


The Lucky Star

by TimeLadyoftheSith



Category: Doctor Who
Genre: Child of the Master, F/F, F/M, M/M, Missing Adventures of Twelfth Doctor, Original Character - Freeform, Other, more tags to come
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-11-21
Updated: 2017-11-29
Packaged: 2019-02-05 05:00:36
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 15
Words: 37,293
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12787521
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TimeLadyoftheSith/pseuds/TimeLadyoftheSith
Summary: Jack Harkness isn’t sure what to expect when he gets a knock on his door at eight AM, but his future is changed by a simple pink and silver bundle.Felicity Seren Harkness grows up knowing she is half-human and half a race called Time Lord. Still, she does her best to fit in, although it’s obvious she doesn’t belong. When a school dance goes wrong, Felicity may have found her answers.





	1. The Captain and the Princess

**Author's Note:**

> This is a fic about the missing time between Darrilium and Bill. It explores why the Doctor chose to stay on Earth and rehabilitate Missy there and why he has sworn never to take another companion until he meets Bill.
> 
> First chapter is a testing the waters chapter. If the reviews are good, I’ll keep going! 
> 
> Please let me know what you think!

* * *

It was a pleasant surprise when the knock came to his door. The man in the suit was handsome, in a salt and pepper middle aged type way. His smile showed straight but sightly yellow teeth, probably stained from the expensive cigar smoke that clung to him with a hint of coffee underneath. He was wearing a pristine suit tailored to perfection and holding an envelope.

“Well hello there.” Jack opened the door to his flat wider, flashing his own trademark smile at the man. “How can I help you?” He emphasized the word, letting the invitation hang in the air. He was about to head out for his morning joh, but this could possibly be a more fun version of cardio.

“You are Captain Jack Harkness?” The man’s voice was crisp and businesslike. So, this wasn’t a friendly visit.

“I am.” Jack pushed himself off of the door frame and looked the man over again, this time from the view point that he was possibly a threat, not that much threatened him.

“I have a delivery for you, from the Cole Family.” The man extended the envelope, and Jack noted that he kept his eyes forced directly forward. A quick glance down the hall revealed two shadows skulking near the lift, one looking a bit disfigured at the chest area.

“Cole? As in Lucy Cole-Saxon’s family?” Jack took the envelope cautiously. “Why would I want anything from them?” He lifted the white envelope up to the morning sun, letting the light filter through to show any possible devices or clumps of powder. One could never be too cautious when it came to that particular group of humans.

“You may not want to, Mr. Harkness.” The man’s emotionless mask never wavered. “I was just asked to wait until you read the contents and decided on an answer.”

Jack slowly peeled the metal prongs on the envelope up and lifted the flap. It had been about eight months since he and the rest of the world had worn the face of the Master, a year since it was announced among the in the know groups that Lucy Saxon had died in an explosion at the prison where she was incarcerated. He pulled out the single sheet of paper that was inside. Written, in elegant script, was a letter.

**To Captain Jack Harkness,**

**We have never met, but I understand through my contacts that you were one of the individuals responsible for helping bring an end to Harold Saxon, the deranged alien who weaseled his way into our lives and convinced us to let him marry our Lucy. First and foremost, we would like to extend our thanks for your part in helping to bring him down.**

**We are reaching out to you now, because we have no other option. We tried to contact other individuals first, such as Martha Jones, but we have not been able to locate her. We also attempted to contact the man known as the Doctor, but he is even more elusive than Mrs. Jones and her new husband Mr. Smith.**

**As you are aware, last Christmas there was an incident with a group of people known as the Cult of Saxon. Lucy perished trying to stop the Master from returning. However, there was one secret that the original warden of the prison and our family managed to keep secret from the Cult.**

**The reason that Lucy killed Harold was not just out of spite and hatred for him. He had subjected her to many experiments and tests in attempt to modify something he called Looming. The final attempt was successful, although he was never aware. Lucy’s true reason for shooting Harold and sacrificing herself in the explosion was not just revenge. It was to protect her child.**

**Yes, Captain Harkness, Lucy was pregnant and Harold was the father. She gave birth five weeks prior to the warden mysteriously dying and being replaced by the Cult leader. The newborn girl was brought to us. We love her, as any grandparents would, but she is just too different, too odd, more like her father than her mother. We cannot care for her adequately in our age, and already the nannies we have tried have begun to notice her oddities.**

**She doesn’t sleep as an infant should. She does not get sick, as other infants do, and she has particular qualities in regards to her intellectual development that are just not human. We are asking you, as a final resort, to take in our granddaughter. We have heard of your own uniqueness, are aware that you have more knowledge than anyone else on Earth about her father’s species, and that your position at Torchwood would be able to help her grow and develop in a way that we cannot provide.**

**We would have presented her to you ourselves, but a very kind woman by the name of Lethbridge-Stuart advised that it would be far more beneficial for all involved if it was done in this manner. So, should you choose to take our grandchild in as your own, our lawyer, Andrew Blakenship has the adoption paperwork with him. Should you decline, we understand and custody of our grandchild will be passed over to the Lethbridge-Stuart family.**

**We thank you, regardless of your decision,  
Lord and Lady Cole.**

Jack stared at the letter in shock. He looked up at the man before him, down at the letter, and up again. A child? The Master had fathered a child? How did they expect him to raise a half human half time lord baby? He swallowed hard, the automatic response of no forming in his mind. He couldn’t raise the child of the Master. Then, the name of the family that would take her if he said no struck him. The Lethbridge-Stuarts ran U.N.I.T., and as much as Jack appreciated all the things that that particular organization did, he couldn’t justify letting a child, even one fathered by the Master, be subjected to what would likely be a lifetime of experiments and testing.

“Where is she?” He shoved the letter back into the envelope and placed it on the tiny table just inside the door that normally held his keys.

“Bring her over.” The man, obviously Andrew, said crisply as he looked down the hall. A woman and a man came around the corner. The man was cradling a bundle of pink and silver blankets to his chest, and the woman was scanning the hall with a protective gaze. Jack held out his hands, and the man holding the swaddled baby met his eyes with a look that said if he tried anything he’d be in trouble. Then, he placed the bundle into Jack’s arms.

Peeling back the blanket, Jack’s gaze fell on the dozing infant. She was tiny, for what must have been a nine month old, not unhealthy but just small. She had soft cornsilk curls that framed her face, porcelain colored skin, and a pair of pink lips that were pursed into a pout. He tiny hands were fisted into her chest around a small gold colored rattle. Although he knew there was no relation, he was instantly reminded of another baby he had seen, one he had watched grow up from afar, with blonde hair and pink lips. “I’ll keep her.” He knew that was the answer. There was no other answer.

If he didn’t, who knew what the child would grow up to endure. If he didn’t, and the Doctor found out, Jack knew that there would be a reckoning. He looked up at the trio. “I said I’ll keep her.”

“Shall we step inside and discuss the legalities while my friends here retrieve her items from downstairs?” If Andrew was shocked, he didn’t let on.

“Yeah.” Jack cradled the little girl to his chest and stepped back inside. “Come in.” He led the man into the kitchen to the table and gestured to a chair, before taking a seat himself. He stroked one of the soft cheeks, and the tiny girl gave a soft whimper and began to fuss. He felt a brief moment of hesitation, recalling how the Doctor had said that Jack felt wrong to him. He wondered if the baby could sense his factual presence at this age. Once he pulled his finger back her face fell into a peaceful state again.

“I was told to inform you, that you needn’t worry about providing for the child.” Andrew produced a thick file from inside his coat and began pulling out papers. “Lord and Lady Cole have an arrangement set up to deposit a hundred thousand pounds a year into your personal account.”

“I won’t need it.” Jack cut the man off, indignation rising in his chest. “They don’t have to pay me off to say yes.”

“Well, Captain Harkness, I understand that but is their wish to make sure that the child has the best possible future.” He slid a form across the table with a pen. “You can choose to have it deposited into a trust account for her instead if you would like.”

Jack glanced down at the banking paperwork, noting the line to waive the money into a trust. He shifted the girl into one arm and signed. It was a lot of paperwork, form after form agreeing everything from custody to the right to have his name on the birth certificate instead of Lucy’s. It didn’t go unnoticed that there was no name listed for the child anywhere. “What’s her name?”

“The Coles just called her Princess, and as far as I know she has no legal name.” Andrew didn’t even look up as the other two carried in boxes of formula, a swing, a play pen, what looked like a disassembled crib, a variety of toys, boxes and bags of clothes. Jack had already told them to leave it in the living room. He had a spare bedroom, but it was full of weapons and technology he was working on.

“What should we name you, huh Princess?” Jack couldn’t help himself from cooing down at the tiny girl. “What should Jack call you?” The little girl didn’t answer, of course, but Jack rolled through lists of names he had come across on his travels. Looking down at her, only two seemed to fit her past and her possible future. “How about Felicity, because I’m lucky I was home when Andrew came to bring you, and Seren, because your people come from the stars?”

“Felicity Seren Harkness.” Andrew began filling the name on the forms, pausing just enough for Jack to nod at the spelling. It took an hour or so more for the paperwork to be completed, and once it was done, the man and woman had assembled the crib, swing set, and toys.

Jack escorted them all to the door, gazed around at the expensive accessories, and sighed. “This all has to go.” He sighed. Now that he was alone with Felicity, who was beginning to stir from where he had laid her in the crib, doubt began to set in. He knew how to raise a child, but he was pretty much alone. Everyone was gone, except Martha and Mickey.

He watched as Felicity’s eyes fluttered open, revealing piercing, sea-foam green irises. “Nanna?” She whimpered, kicking her feet free of her blankets. “Nanna?” The tiny girl locked eyes with him, freezing as the pale eyebrows went high.

“Nanna’s not here, Felicity.” Jack steped forward to pick the girl up, receiving a shock when she rolled over to grab the crib rails and blink at him.

“Pwincess.” Felicity’s voice was wavering a bit in uncertainty, as she took in her surroundings. “Want Nanna.” Her lower lip trembled, and tears began to form. “Pwincess want Nanna.”

Realization struck Jack at the same time fear did. The letter had said she was unique, and now he understood. No human child could formulate such words at nine months old. He swallowed hard, wondering if perhaps he had made a mistake. Yet, he couldn’t back out of this now. “Nanna had to go away for a bit, Princess.” He forced a comforting smile onto his face. “Are you hungry? How about some milk?” The tears leaked from her eyes as she pulled herself up on her tiny legs and sniffled. She nodded, causing her pale curls to bounce. “Well, up we get Princess.” He reached down and pulled her into his arms.

“Huh.” Felicity’s voice came out in a single syllable. Her tiny fingers clinging to his neck clenched. He felt the slightest of tickles across his thoughts, no stronger than a butterfly landing on his face. “Daddy Jack? What mean?”

Jack had to stop himself from dropping her. So she was as much as touch telepath as her father and the Doctor. This was going to be tough. “You’re Princess, and I’m Daddy Jack.” He explained carrying her into the kitchen to get her a bottle. “And it means that I’m going to have to get some help.”

“Pwincess help.” Felicity wriggled in his arms reaching for the container of formula, causing Jack to yelp and pull her upright.

He was in for a ride, and a single person came to mind he wondered why he over looked. “Let’s get you some breakfast, Princess, and then we’ll call Aunt Sarah Jane.”


	2. Breakfast and Book Reports

“Lissi!” Jack’s voice echoed from the kitchen. “Breakfast is ready!”

Felicity squinted at her reflection in the mirror on the back of her door and scrunched her nose. “Coming Daddy!” She grabbed her comb and ran it through her hair again, examining the way the purple streaks she had put in her last night while her dad slept bounced up into the spiral curls that framed her face. She snagged the purple eyeliner from the top drawer, and quickly smudged onto her lower lashes. With a satisfied sigh, she shoved her homework into her bag and headed to the kitchen.

“Morning Princess.” Her dad called over his shoulder, where he was scooping bacon from a pan onto a plate with eggs and toast. “Homework done?”

“Of course, Dad.” She flopped into her chair and poured herself a glass of orange juice.

“Felicity Seren! What is on your eyes?” His voice wasn’t a yell, but it sounded firm and a bit shocked.

“Eyeliner, Daddy.” She blinked innocently up at him, hoping he wouldn’t make her take it off. The other girls at school were wearing it, but she hadn’t exactly asked his permission before buying it. Her new highlights seemed to have gone unnoticed.

“No way, little lady.” Jack slid her plate to the table. “You’re gonna wash that off your face before Aunt Martha gets here. You’re ten! We agreed no makeup until fifteen.”

Felicity bit back the constant feeling of discomfort that being so close to her dad put in her stomach. It was odd because she loved him, adored him really, but something about him just made her feel off. She had noticed it when she was four, but as she got older the feeling got stronger. It wasn’t a feeling of fear or danger, just that her subconscious said that he couldn’t and shouldn’t exist. It just knew, like how it sometimes knew when a car was going to cut in traffic or someone was about to fall. She never had the courage to ask though. “No, Dad, you agreed. I didn’t.” She tried to keep her whining minimized, but it wasn’t fair. “All the other girls are wearing it!”

“And if all the other girls decided to take a walk on a Sontaran clone ship, would you?” He crossed his arms, narrowing his eyes at her.

“Probably?” Felicity tried flashing him her innocent smile, the one that said she hadn’t meant to make him upset and she was his princess. “Maybe?”

“No, eat and go wash your face.” His scowl cracked into smile he tried to force back. “But you can keep the purple streaks.” He ruffled her hair and went back to the stove.

Felicity grinned to herself as she grabbed her fork. She contemplated her food, as she always did, inhaling and trying to identify if he had thrown in any extra ingredients this time. Sometimes he liked to play that game with her, to keep her senses ‘up to par’ as he put it. She knew she had a better sense of smell and taste than other people, because she was different. “Daddy?”

“Yes, Princess.” Jack tossed the hand towel over his shoulder as he moved the pan to the sink and began to wash it.

“Tomorrow’s my eleventh birthday.” She knew that this was a topic she should broach carefully, because sometimes he got touchy when she mentioned it. “I’ll be older, technically, can I not wear my gloves.” She eyed the thin, cotton, elbow length black gloves resting over her jumper on the arm of the sofa. “Please?” She didn’t need her jumper, not really, because she didn’t get cold or hot like everyone else in school did. Another thing that told her she was different, but she was too nervous to ask.

Her dad tossed the dishtowel on the counter and walked over to her. He lowered one calloused hand to her arm and sighed. Instantly, her mind was overwhelmed with anxiety, hesitation, and a simmering ache that was not hers. She squeezed her eyes shut, trying to imagine a wall like he, Aunt Sarah, Aunt Martha, and Uncle Mickey had tried so hard to help her learn. “Until you can block it out instinctively, no.” His hand pulled away and he smoothed her hair before planting a kiss on it. “It’s to keep you safe.”

Felicity sighed and popped a bite of egg into her mouth. Her stomach felt like a lump, and the normally good breakfast was suddenly flavorless. “I’m a freak.” She mumbled, pushing her eggs around with her fork.

“You are not.” Jack froze from where he was picking up one of her numerous books from the floor and setting it on the coffee table. She glanced back down at her plate. “You’re different, but not a freak.” A knock on the door made them both look up. “We’ll talk about this when you get home.”

Felicity shoveled her food into her mouth, knowing if she didn’t she’d be starving before lunch. She downed her orange juice, grabbed her bag, donned her gloves and jumper, and shuffled her way into the living room. “Well don’t you look cute.” Aunt Martha beamed down at her.

“I look cool, Auntie Martha.” Felicity felt her anxiety abate into a genuine grin. “Not cute.”

“Wait a minute Lissi.” Her dad squatted down so they were level and took her by the shoulder. “When you get home, I promise.” He licked his thumb and rubbed the corner of her eye. “It was smeared. Today only, okay.” He pressed a kiss to her forehead and Felicity smiled and hurried out the door to her aunt.

“Everything okay?” Martha draped an arm over her shoulder as she guided her out to the car.

“Yeah, why wouldn’t it be?” Felicity tossed her bag in the floorboard before sliding into the passenger-seat.

“Because you haven’t even noticed that!” Martha nodded at the silver bag on the dash. “Happy Birthday!”

“My birthday’s tomorrow.” Felicity grabbed the bag and pulled it into her lap.

“Uncle Mickey and I are leaving for a job as soon as I drop you off.” Martha explained.

Felicity knew that her aunt and uncle worked jobs for places like Torchwood, U.N.I.T, and various governments. She also knew she wasn’t allowed to tell anyone about it either. Aliens were real, and they came to Earth. Sometimes, most of the time, they were really nice. Other times, they were bad. If her aunt and uncle were going out for a job, it meant they were bad this time. “Where at?” She began pulling the thin tissue paper from the bag.

“Japan.” Martha reached over to pull her curls. “But you aren’t supposed to ask about that are you?”

“No ma’am.” She reached inside and pulled out a box. It wasn’t just any box, it was a cell phone box. “Oh Thank you!” She did a little happy dance and let it slide back in the bag. “I won’t open it til I get home! Cross my hearts.” She made an X over both sides of her chest. That was another thing that made he different, why Aunt Martha was the only doctor allowed to examine her. Felicity had two hearts, and instead of lungs she had brachial tubes and something called a respiratory bypass system.

“Want me to walk you up?” Martha had pulled the car into the school parking lot.

“No thanks Auntie Martha.” Felicity tucked her gift bag into her school bag and undid her seatbelt. “Be safe in Japan.”

“We will.” Martha leaned over, and they hugged fiercely. “Felicity, you know we love you right.”

“I love you too.” She felt her face grow warm and a happy bubble form in her chest. “Give Uncle Micks kisses for me.” She slid out of the car and dashed up the pavement to school.

Once in the hall, she spotted Branson Mitchell, the school bully, loitering by the water fountain. Felicity stared straight ahead and tried to speed walk past. “Oi! Freakenstein! What happened to your eyes and hair? Did you get attacked by grapes.”

“Just ignore him.” She repeated the mantra the head teacher had taught her. You ignored bullies, and they’d get bored and go away.

“I’m talking to you!” He started after her, but the P.E. Teacher caught him by the back pack and wheeled him the opposite way to the year five classes. Felicity breathed a sigh of relief and hurried up the stairs to her year six class. Going to school was just a formality, her dad thought it was important to develop her social skills.

She knew everything they were being taught already, as her Aunt Sarah Jane had been tutoring her twice a week since she was three. So during the day, Felicity went to school. After that, though, she was learning college level academia as well as the different species of aliens that they shared their section of the galaxy with.

Still, she sat in class, utilizing her ability to pay attention while still day dreaming at the same time. That was another thing she wondered about. She could process everything going on around her in one part of her brain, while with the other she could focus on sketching or recite the rank levels of the Judoon with another part.

It was just before the end of the day, as she was focusing on a sonnet by Shakespeare when she heard the noise. Nobody else heard it, but she focused her hearing in on it. It was a strange whining, grating noise, like a house key on a piano string. Then, it faded with a tingling whorp. Then the wind shifted through the cracked window and a sharp tang pierced her olfactory senses. It smelled just a little like that faint aroma that was on her dad, her uncle, and both her aunts’ skin. She checked a spot in her mind, which she called her mental sticky notes, to ask her dad about it later.

The bell rang, forty-seven and a third second too early, but Felicity had learned in her first year not to bring it up. “Miss Harkness.” The voice of her teacher, Mr. Temple, stopped her at the door.

“Yes, Mr. T.” She shouldered her pack and hurried to his desk. He was holding her book report in his hand. He was new, young, filling in for Mrs. Lannin who was out with a new baby.

“You know that the school has a strict rule about parents doing your homework.” He held it out to her, where he had marked a red zero percent on the front page.

Indignation rose in her chest and Felicity clenched her fists around her bag straps. “My dad didn’t do my book report. I did.” Jack never had to help her with her homework. In fact, all he ever had to do was remind her to pack it because sometimes she’d overlook it as she put her things together.

“Some of these vocabulary words are far beyond your age level.” He flipped open the pages where he had underlined numerous words. “Rancorous, gruntled, prepossessing, luminescent, pernicious, illustrious-“

Felicity swallowed hard and clenched her jaw. Mrs. Lannin never questioned her vocabulary or the way she broke down the books at levels far above her peers. “Rancorous: adjective, characterized by bitterness or resentfulness. Gruntled: adjective, humorous or pleased. Prepossessing: adjective, attractive or appealing in appearance. Luminescent: adjective, something that is emitting a low-temperature light. Pernicious: adjective, having a subtle harmful effect. Illustrious: adjective-“

“Point made Miss Harkness.” He closed the book report and pulled out a notepad. He wrote something down, blocking it with his hand, then folded it up and slid it in an envelope. “Give this to your father. After I speak with him, I’ll decide about the accuracy of this report.”

Felicity snatched the envelope from his hand, shoved it into her half zipped bag, and shot him the most condescending look she could muster before hurrying out the door. She didn’t even need to check the hall clock to know that Aunt Sarah was late picking her up. She stomped across the grass, ignoring the shouts of the teacher monitoring the students leaving. “Stupid, ignorant, self-righteous, pompous arse.” She growled through her teeth. Was it her fault she was different, that her brain just functioned differently.

“Did Freakenstein just curse?!” Branson Mitchell pushed away from the bench where he was sitting with his friends. “I’m talking to you!” He grabbed her arm and spun her around.

“Leave me alone, Branson.” Felicity was already angry, but the sticky, sweaty fingers gripping through her sleeve made her even angrier. “Before I make you.”

Branson laughed and towered over her, which wasn’t hard given that she was shorter than most. “You can’t make me do anything.” His small posse of equally as dumb and mean friends had gathered.

“She’s got a gift bag in there!” Martin, who was skinny as a rail but quick at tripping people pointed at her half zipped bag.

“Let’s see what the runt has, shall we.” Branson grabbed the strap over her shoulder and yanked, throwing Felicity off balance and making her stumble away. By the time she recovered, they were pulling the still sealed phone box out. “Nice! This isn’t even due to be released until next month!”

“That’s mine!” She grabbed for it, but Branson held it out of reach. “Give it back!”

“Nah, I’ll keep it as payment for you sassing off.” He shoved her again, but this time Felicity saw it coming. She didn’t see it like she saw him move, tiny sickly green lines shifted around him, and her mind just knew.

With a scream of fury, she dodged his hand and kicked him as hard as she could in the groin, just as her dad had showed her. “It’s mine!”

Branson stumbled back, dropping the box to the grass and yowling in pain. He stumbled to his knees, and Felicity dove for the box. So focused she was on her prize, that she missed Martin throw his own foot out and trip her. She hit the ground, her arm bent awkwardly under her, and she felt, heard, and mentally catalogued the exact place in her wrist where the bone slightly fractured. She gasped in shock, but didn’t give them the satisfaction of crying.

“You stupid little.” Branson crawled forward, tears leaking from his eyes, and grabbed for the box in her good hand. He pulled hard, taking the box and her glove with it. “I outta rip those stupid purple streaks right out of your hair!”

Felicity knew it was wrong, before she even moved. She had been told not to do it, forbidden actually, but she didn’t care. Pain coursed up her arm, making her eyes water, and red hot anger tunneled her vision into the bare patch of skin on Branson’s wrist. She wrapped her fingers around it, and let his thoughts flow into her. “You’re just a bully because your brother holds your head in the toilet and makes you drink the water!”

“How did you?” Branson’s eyes went wide and he tried to yank his arm back, but Felicity clung to him, focusing her mind like a pointer into the twisted angry and fearful mind of the bully.

“And your dad is an alcoholic and breaks into your piggy bank to buy cheap gin!” She dug her nails into his skin, reveling in the power she felt as he dropped her glove and box. “And you still wet the bed, because you have an underdeveloped bladder!”

“FELICITY SEREN HARKNESS!” Aunt Sarah’s voice rang out through the crowd that Felicity hadn’t even noticed gathered. “What do you think you’re doing?!”

She dropped his hand in shock and stumbled back onto her rear. She clutched her throbbing arm, shame at being caught coursing through her. Now that the anger was fading, the pain in her arm was almost unbearable. “He fractured my ulna!” She gasped, fighting back the tears as she looked down at her rapidly swelling wrist.

“Get out of here, before I call your parents!” Sarah barked, and the kids scattered like roaches. “Let me see.” She knelt beside Felicity and took her arm gently in her hand. Now that they were alone, Felicity let the tears fall. “Yep it’s fractured, and Martha left this morning. I’ll have Mr. Smith scan it, up you get.”

Felicity grabbed her glove and her phone with her good hand, and Sarah Jane helped her to her feet. She shouldered her pack. She didn’t risk talking, because not only was the pain making bile in her throat, but Aunt Sarah looked furious. She slid into the passenger side, and watched as Branson was walking without his normal group down the pavement. From here, she could see the tears in his eyes. Regret pooled low in her gut, making her feel even more nauseous. “Aunt Sarah, I’m so-“

“I’m not the one you need to apologize to, Felicity.” She stared straight ahead, her lips set in a tight line. “And you know I have to tell your dad.”

Felicity nodded, shrinking into her seat, and staring out the window. She had hurt somebody, not just physically, but mentally. Branson was right. She was a freakenstein.


	3. Pictures worth a thousand memories

Felicity sat on the edge of her bed and stared down at the black and purple cast on her arm. Once it had been confirmed it was only something Martha called, over speaker phone, a green stick fracture, Sarah Jane had driven to Martha and Mickey’s house to get the supplies to cast it. Then Aunt Sarah had stepped outside to call her dad. When she had come home, Jack hadn’t spoken. He just pointed at her bedroom door, and she had dodged his disappointed gaze as she hurried inside.

Normally, she didn’t listen in on adult conversations, but she was so on edge she couldn’t help but hear. She clutched her stuffed Adipose, named Squish, to her chest. Her dad had had it custom made for her after she obsessed over how adorable they were in the pictures she saw. Her dad and Aunt Sarah were whispering furiously, but their voices were easily comprehended.

“You have to call him.” Sarah Jane sounded sad, like she didn’t want to have to say the words. Now that Felicity thought about it, more like she was tired of saying those words.

“I’ve tried.” She could almost picture her dad pulling at his hair like he sometimes did when he was stressed. “He doesn’t answer, it goes to some voice message about how he doesn’t even know how to access it.”

“What about U.N.I.T.? Surely they have some record of his recent patterns.” Sarah was pacing now, making the soft spot under the carpet groan too low for them to hear themselves.

“The last sighting they had was some little girl in Leadworth who made cartoons and drawings.” Jack slapped his hand on what sounded like the counter top. “You don’t think I didn’t look into it?”

“Then we need to tell the truth.”

“Shhh.”

Felicity felt both her hearts stutter. What did they need to tell the truth about? Who was this person they were talking about? Did they know someone else like her, someone who could help her? She squeezed her Squish tighter.

“She’s almost eleven, Jack. She’s not a baby anymore. Sooner or later she’s going to put two and two together.” She heard Sarah Jane grab her dad by the arm, because his watch clinked slightly. “She broke her arm today. What if next time she falls from somewhere or gets hit by a car and regenerates?”

Felicity nearly dropped Squish as her dad sighed loudly. “You’re right, but not all of it.”

She swallowed hard, staring at the door. They were obviously talking about her, about how she was different. Yet, she didn’t understand who ‘he’ was and why ‘he’ needed to be called. She jumped as the handle turned, and the door cracked open. “Hi Daddy.” She worried her lip as he gave her a sad look.

“Can you come out here Lissi? We need to talk to you.” He nodded his head to the living room, but when she hurried out clutching Squish, he was walking towards his bedroom. Aunt Sarah was perched on the couch.

Felicity noted that Aunt Sarah Jane looked like she had been crying, but she wiped her eyes quickly. “How much did you overhear?”

“All of it, but it didn’t make sense.” She stood next to the couch, playing with Squish’s arm. “Is there someone else out there like me?”

“Nobody is like you, Princess.” Her dad was back, but he had a small dusty photo album in his hand. “You’re one of a kind.” He sat the album on the table before taking a seat on the couch. “You and Squish come here, Felicity.” He patted his knee, his face twisted with worry.

Felicity climbed into his lap, fighting against that urge to cringe away from his factuality. “I know what I did was wrong, Daddy. Using my powers to read minds to hurt people is mean. I’ll never do it again.” She felt the true worry she had been harboring all afternoon filling her chest with fear and her eyes with fat, hot tears. “Please don’t send me away.”

“Oh, sweetling.” Aunt Sarah reached over and squeezed her knee. “We’d never send you away. We love you.”

“You’re my Lucky Star.” Her dad squeezed her gently and kissed her hair. “I’d never, ever, ever send you away or let anyone take you away.” He wiped her cheek and held her eyes. “Remember that. No matter what, I’m your Dad and I love you more than anything else in the universe.”

“I love you both too.” She did her best to block the anxious thoughts rolling up her cheek from Jack’s thumb.

They both shared a look, and her dad spoke. “You’re different from the other kids, even other adults. You know this right?” She nodded, sniffling and wiping her eyes. “Well, Lissi, there’s a reason. You.. you’re.” Her dad drew a shaky breath. “That’s because you’re only half-human.”

Felicity dropped Squish in shock. She stared at them both, hoping to see in their eyes that this was a lie. Yet, they both were watching her in such a way that it could only be true. It made sense. She was different, out of place, because only half of her belonged with humans. “What is my other half, Daddy?”

“Time-Lord.” Aunt Sarah Jane spoke first. “You’re half Time-Lord.” She gave a small smile. “For a while, we thought maybe you were just half-Gallifreyan, but then as you got older we realized that you had inherited the traits of a Time Lady.” She gave a soft chuckle. “Well, at your age I believe they are called Time Tots.”

Felicity had learned all about Gallifrey a few months back. Aunt Sarah Jane had discussed the planet, where it resided in the Constellation of Kasterborous, and it’s sister planet Karn. “So, my mum was a Time Lady?” She looked between them both.

“No, Lissi.” Her dad squeezed his eyes shut, as if trying to hold back an agonizing pain. “Your mum was human. Your biological father was a Time Lord.”

Her mind when on a marathon, trying to comprehend these facts. Jack was human. She knew that. Other than the way he just existed in that strange way, he felt entirely human. She tried to slow her erratic thoughts. Her dad had said biological father. “I’m adopted?!” Everything she thought she had known felt like it was burning down around here. “But my real family, where are they?”

“We are your real family, Felicity.” Aunt Sarah was crying too, and her dad looked like he had been punched in the gut. “We’ve raised you since you were an infant.”

“I mean my biological family.” She resisted the urge to squirm out of his lap, choosing instead to pick a loose thread on the cotton underneath her cast.

“They died when you were a month old.” Her dad tucked her hair behind her ear. “Because I know about Time Lords, and Aunt Sarah, Martha, Uncle Mickey, and I have been friends with one for a long time, I was asked to adopt you.”

Felicity’s brain was taking in all of this information, but emotionally she felt like she couldn’t breathe. Jack wasn’t her dad. She was only half human. Her biological parents were dead. “Why haven’t the other Time Lords and Ladies come looking for me?”

“Because there is only one left, Lissi.” Sarah Jane bit her lip and wiped a tear. “And while we are his friends, we haven’t been able to get in touch with him.”

“He travels a lot.” Jack cut in, reaching around her to pick up the photo album. “He can travel anywhere in time and space, and he is a hero.” He handed her the book, which looked like it hadn’t been touched in ages. “We were saving this for your sixteenth birthday, but right now seems a more appropriate time.”

Felicity opened the cover, wiping her snot and tears on her sleeve, and gasped. The first picture was a younger Sarah Jane. She was standing in front of a blue box marked police with a tall older man in a green velvet coat with a black magician looking cape. He had poofy white hair and a cheerful smile. The next page was her again. This time the man had a long scarf, a hat, and a duster style jacket. There were pictures of her Dad, younger with a roguish grin. He had a blonde woman tucked under his arm, and beside them was a scowling man with dark hair and a leather jacket. Then there was a picture of the blonde woman, her dad, and Mickey laughing at a table in a seaside restaurant.

Next came pictures of the same blonde woman with Uncle Mickey and a smiling man with sticky uppy brown hair and a pinstripe suit. They were all laughing in front of what looked like a panel covered in switches that had a bluish lighted tube coming from the middle. Then there was Aunt Martha, with the same pinstripe man with what looked like a cat person. Then again with the man and a woman with long, ginger hair. “Who are these people?” She turned back to the first page again.

“Let’s start with the blonde girl first, because she’s easiest.” Her dad turned back to the first picture of her. “This is your Aunt Rose. You’ve never met her because.” Jack swallowed and sighed. “Because she lives in a parallel dimension. I’ll tell you more about how she got there when you get older, but for a long time she was my best friend.” He turned to the red-haired woman. “This is Donna Noble. She was the most important woman in the universe, but something happened, and she had to lose her memories or she’d die.”

“Who are all these different men?” Felicity touched the leather jacket man’s face.

“They are actually all one man.” Aunt Sarah Jane reached over and turned back to the first page. “His name is the Doctor, and he is a Time Lord.”

“How can they all be the same man?” She was confused. They all looked different. They were older, younger, different faces, different hair, and different eyes.

“Time Lords have this trick. When they are fatally wounded, they can change all the cells in their body to turn into a new person.” Her dad sighed. “But they can only do it twelve times.” She tried to close the book, and hand it back. “This is yours. You keep it.” Her dad pushed it back towards her.

Felicity felt a bit odd. Some part of her felt relief at knowing why she was different, but she also felt a bit betrayed at being lied to her whole life. Then, she also felt worry because they had been talking about calling a ‘he’. Unless, the Doctor was the ‘he’. “Is this who you were trying to call? The man who wouldn’t check his answer phone?” She clutched the photo album to her chest and met her dad’s eyes. “You said you weren’t going to send me away.”

“Oh, Lissi.” He shook his head and hugged her again. “I would never send you away. I just thought the Doctor might be able to help you better understand your abilities, how to block thoughts out.”

The little mental note she mad earlier demanded her attention. “Daddy, you traveled with this Doctor, and Aunt Sarah and Mickey and Martha?” He nodded. “Did you know all of you have the same smell in your skin, sort of tangy and like the air during a lightning storm.”

“Artron energy.” Sarah Jane nodded. “The Doctor said that Time Travelers carry that scent for life.”

“Today, at school. I heard this noise, like a wheezing scraping noise. Then the wind blew into the class, and I smelled it.” She watched as their eyes went wide. “What?”

“That was his ship. It’s called the TARDIS.” Her dad’s face was a mix of worry, excitement, and relief. “But why in the world was he at Coal Hill?”

“No idea.” Aunt Sarah shrugged, but her eyes sparkled with youthful exuberance. “You tell her more about the TARDIS, and I’ll cook you two dinner.”

The rest of the night, her Dad and Aunt told her stories of their adventures, and explained why he felt so weird to her. The next day at school, Felicity was so focused on what she had learned the night before that she was oblivious to the memorial to the death of one of their teachers, Miss Oswald, and she missed the redhaired woman hugging Mr. Temple in the hallway as he laid a bunch of flowers at the memorial.

 

 


	4. Best Friends and Bike Rides

Felicity jogged across the finish line, brushing her hair back from her hair. She tried to force herself to look winded, before her coach saw her. Soon, her other classmates were stumbling to a stop panting.

“Good work, Harkness!” Coach Webb strode over with a smile. “Two miles in eleven minutes, and you aren’t even sweating.” She shook her head. “Why don’t you try out for the track team? With you we could win every meet.”

She shook her head, about to speak when Branson spoke up from where he was pacing in circles gasping for air. “We’ve been telling her that Coach, but she won’t.”

“I take uni prep tutoring after school.” It was a lie, but she couldn’t exactly tell her coach that she actually studied about things far outside the expanse of this tiny planet. She was also taking lessons from Martha and Mickey on fighting and weaponry. “Or I would.”

“You’re thirteen, Felicity. How are you taking uni prep?” Coach Webb blinked at her in shock.

“She’s supposed to be in uni already, but her Dad wants her to go through school like any kid.” Branson managed to catch his breath and flashed her a smile. Three years had changed things a lot. There had been apologies, a month or two of fearful avoidance, and then friendship had bloomed

“Well then.” Coach looked at her watch before nodding. “You’ve got fifteen minutes until schools out, go get showered and changed.”

Felicity let out a breath of relief, and smiled as her best friend slung his arm over her shoulder. “Seriously, Lissi, sometimes I swear it’s like you’re an alien or a mutant or something.” He angled them towards the pavement that led to the two locker room doors.

“Don’t be absurd.” She rolled her eyes and elbowed him in the ribs. “Aliens and mutants aren’t real.” If only he knew how accurate that sentence was.

“That’s exactly what an alien or mutant would say.” He flashed her a teasing grin and gave her a playful shove towards the girl’s door. “Chips after school?”

“Yeah, I don’t have lessons with Aunt Sarah, so I’m free.” She grinned back and ducked inside. She headed to the shower, and quickly rinsed off the dirt that had settled onto her skin and hair. Then she headed out to dress. She skipped over her uniform, settling for the cute black leggings she had packed, a flowing maroon tunic top with black mesh sleeves, and the mid calf length boots. Then she began reapplying her makeup.

It wasn’t that she needed it, as her skin was flawless, a side effect of being Half Time Lady. It did, however, help her blend in. For her birthday last week, her dad had gifted her with a debit card to an account he said her biologicals, as she called them, had set up just after she was born. She was allowed to buy whatever she liked, so long as she didn’t exceed a thousand dollars a month. Mostly she splurged on books or parts for the half a dozen experiments she had going on in her bedroom.

“Lissi and Branson, sitting in a tree.” The voice of Miranda, a pleasant girl from her choir class giggled from behind her.

“Oh shut it.” Felicity tossed the tissue she was using to smudge her eyeliner into a nice smoky look at her. “We’re just friends.”

“And I’m next in line for the throne.” She collapsed onto the bench, letting her short black hair flop into her face. “I heard he’s planning on asking you to the winter dance, and he’s like one of the hottest guys in our level.”

“That’s like a month away!” Felicity laughed and pulled her bag from her locker. “Besides, Dad says I can’t date til I’m thirty.”

“Speaking of dads.” Alisha, Miranda’s best friend, came out of the shower area drying her hair. “Lissi’s dad is hooooot.” She fanned herself and pretended to swoon. “For an older guy.”

“How do you even know?” She shoved Miranda’s feet off the bench and sat down to wait for the bell. “He never picks me up or drops me off from school.”

“You guys just moved in three houses down. I saw ya’ll out jogging last night.” The blonde girl was pulling on her clothes.

They had moved two weeks before, as their tiny flat was becoming more and more cramped as Felicity got older and her interest in building, experimenting, and creating things grew. Their new two story house was perfect. “Oh! Well glad we know at least some neighbors.” She was genuinely glad. It had been harder to make friends when she was a kid, but the last two and a half years had changed things. Knowing who she was and where she came from had done wonders on her self esteem. “The old couple at the end of the block, are they always so...” she circled her finger around the side of her head.

“Did they scream at you to stay off their lawn, even though you were on the sidewalk?” Alisha rolled her eyes as Felicity nodded. “Yeah, they are always like that.”

The bell chimed, and Felicity shouldered her bag. “See you later!” She hurried out into the hall, through the school, and to the front walk where Branson was waiting with their bikes.

“There you are!” He grinned, and with the information she had learned inside, Felicity examined her friend from the view point of someone who didn’t know him. His husky, chunky build from the few years before had trimmed out since he took up rugby and track. He was a bit older than most of the kids in their level, by about a year, so puberty was already beginning to make his jaw more pronounced. His dark hair was cut now, in a close buzz on the side with the slightly longer top gelled up into a fauxhawk. His blue eyes were the exact same shade as the sky over their heads, and she giggled internally as she realized that he nor anyone else would note that. He was cute, but she knew better than to invest her time into school age crushes. Less than once precent ever made it to adulthood anyways.

“Earth to Lissi!” He waved his hand in her face. She blinked and shook her head. “What were you staring at?”

“You’ve got a smudge on your cheek.” She lied, grabbing her bike handles from him and swung a leg over. “Let’s go.” They headed out to their favorite chippy, giggling as they dodged through pedestrians, and kicked up some loose leaves as the skidded to a stop at their favorite bench. “Get your homework out. I’ll grab the chips.”

Felicity headed inside to order, glancing out the window to where he was pulling out his books and paper. She helped him study as often as she could, and he was actually managing to pull his grades up from an F average to a C+. She hoped by the end of this year he’d be at a B. After ordering the chips and soda she came back out and slid into the seat across from him. Together they worked on their homework. She sped through hers, so that she could focus on helping him.

They were just going over his remedial algebra formulas when he changed the topic. “Can I ask you, or I guess your dad, a favor?”

“Of course?” She took a sip from her straw and met his eyes. His cheeks were flushed in embarrassment, and he looked down at his paper. Felicity knew that look. That was the one he wore when his dad showed up and was raising hell at home. Her hearts ached for her friend. That meant tomorrow he’d probably be coming in smelling like cigarette smoke and possibly sporting a few new bruises under his jumper. Sometimes she wished she could take Mr. Mitchell and toss him into a black hole.

“Mum’s gonna be gone tonight, to visit my aunt.” He tapped his pen against the table. “I really don’t wanna stay home with my dad alone.”

Felicity reached into her bag and pulled out her phone. Her family knew all about Mr. Mitchell, but without any proof nobody had been able to do anything. There was already a contingency plan in place should this have ever happened. She tapped her dad’s number, pressed dial, and then speaker. It rang twice. “Hey Princess, everything okay?”

“Hey Daddy.” She met Branson’s eyes and held up a finger. “We have a code mauve on Operation Skaro.”

“Roger that. All meals will be rationed for three troops until further notice, and I will get supplies for the spare bunk in cabin three.” Her dad responded instantly, and she grinned. “Don’t eat too many chips, I’m making lasagna. Same goes for you Branson!”

Branson blinked in surprise at the phone. “Uh, of course Mr. Harkness.” She hung up the phone just as he tilted his head and stared at her like she was insane. “What was that about?”

Felicity felt her cheeks flush in embarrassment, and it was her turn to look down. She hated bringing up what had happened three years before. “When we had our incident, my Aunt Sarah Jane overheard. She told dad, and they sorta pieced it together.” She tucked one of her now red fire engine dyed curls behind her ear. “Then when we started hanging out more, we came up with a plan in case you ever needed somewhere to crash.”

“Seriously?” Branson blinked, his cheeks flushing darker as he closed his books and stuffed them into the bag. “Nobody ever cared before.”

“Hey, I always care.” Suddenly, there was a fizzling cracking noise, and the wind became heavy with artron energy. “Do you smell  
That?” She held up her hand a sniffed.

He sniffed as well. “Chips. I only smell chips, and maybe cigar smoke from that guy up there.” He pointed to an older man sitting on a balcony of a flat just above them.

“No.” She drew in a deeper breath. Definitely artron energy. “Follow me.” She shoved her books in her bag and grabbed her bike. Once she saw him scramble onto his, she took off in the direction of the smell. It led them across the street, through the park, and into another street lined with shops.

A woman was standing there, talking to a man who was wearing a sort of cloaking device. He appeared to be a middle eastern man in a suit, but when Felicity tilted her head and let her enhanced vision take over, she was able to see past the staticky hologram that covered his body. He was tall, green, with a head full of spikes. “The purchaser will be very pleased.” He said, as he took what looked like a jewelry box.

The woman, who looked to be in her forties, was wearing a nice black business suit, tailored well. She had a crown of golden brown curls that framed her face, and a mischievous smile. Felicity noted, as her eyes picked up on the perception filter on her waist, that the woman was hiding a blaster of some sort under her suit coat. On her wrist was a vortex manipulator. Felicity gasped, as the woman took a silver plate from the man and disappeared into a crowd of people. Then she heard the fizzle pop, and artron energy filled the air.

“Why were we watching them?” Branson shook her arm.

Felicity drug her gaze back to him, feeling giddy and terrified all at once. She had seen a time agent, like what he dad had been before he’s gone rogue. “I thought she was on of my dad’s exgirlfriends.” She lied quickly. “Do you need to get home and get some stuff before you dad gets there?”

“Yeah.” Branson looked down at his watch. “If I hurry, I can get there and get out. Meet you at your place.”

“See ya!” She called as he spun his bike around and took off.

Her mind reeling, she peddled back through the park and towards her home. “A time agent?! Bloody hell!” She let herself laugh as her exclamation earned her a scowl from a prim looking woman walking a poodle. She cut across traffic, up her street, and slid to a stop sideways next to her dad’s car. Then she hurried inside. “DAD!” She tossed her bag onto the couch and dashed into the kitchen where he was tinkering with what looked like a Sontaran rifle. “Dad! Guess what!”

“Kinda busy baby girl.” He murmured, as he reattached some wires.

“Green goes there, and that teal one runs back to the phasma trigger.” Felicity warned before the wires touched. To his credit, he did as she said and the rifle hummed to life. “Okay, now guess what.” She couldn’t help but bounce from foot to foot. “Guess, guess, guess.”

“Easy there kiddo.” Jack laughed as he snapped the cover plate back into place. “Where’s Branson?”

“He’ll be here, but gueeeeess!” She grabbed his arm and pulled so he’d look at her.

“I have no clue.” He ruffled her hair, before powering down the rifle and ejecting the plasma coil. “Tell me.”

“I saw a time agent.” Felicity exclaimed, jumping up and down. She still couldn’t believe it, and she was so excited she nearly missed catching the plasma coil Jack dropped. “She had big curly hair, a blaster hidden by a perception filter, and a vortex manipulator.”

“Did she see you or talk to you.” Her dad looked nervous. “Lissi, I need to know.” He crouched down and gripped her shoulders tight. “Did she see you?”

Felicity swallowed and shook her head. The woman hadn’t even paid attention to two kids on bikes. “No, sir. She just gave a man something and then disappeared.” She met his eyes, as they darted between hers. “Want me to show you?” She held her palm up to his face, but didn’t touch him.

“No, Lissi, just be careful.” He smoothed her hair against her face and sighed. “Not every time agent is good. If they suspected for one second what you are, they’d take you away.”

Felicity nodded and sighed. “When I smelled the artron energy I thought it might be, well, the Doctor.” She had been watching for the TARDIS every day since she learned about it. She thought she had seen it once, but when she had jumped off the bus and run back it was gone.

“Well, what are the rules for if you ever see the TARDIS?” Her dad stood back up and picked up the rifle.

“Call you or Aunt Sarah Jane.” She recited instantly. They had gone over this with her three hundred eighty seven times.

“And....” Her dad arched an eyebrow as he stepped around her to carry the rifle to his room.

“And under any circumstances do not go inside the TARDIS without you, her, Mickey, or Martha.” Felicity recited. She hurried through the living room, just as Branson knocked on the door. “Hey! Come in.”

“Hey. I just made it out.” He had a messenger bag slung over his shoulder in addition to his school bag.

“You’ll be in the guest room.” She grinned as she led him down the hall to put his bags down. The spare bedroom looked bare to most people, but that was because the safes and storage lockers were cleverly hidden beneath the queen bed, behind a false wall in the closest, and inside the vents in the wall. “Let’s go in my room. I recorded the last three episodes of Supernatural.”

“You didn’t watch ahead?” Branson followed after her, closing her bedroom door behind her. He had been in her room before, and knew by now that it was cluttered with various projects and weird things. He had stopped touching them after singing off an eyebrow four months before.

“Never!” She peeled off her boots and jumped onto her bed. He joined her, and they both laid belly down to watch as she pressed play.

The door opened wide, and her dad propped it open with one of the books laying on the floor. “Doors open when guests are in here.” He said it like he meant business, but Felicity saw the humor in his eyes. “I remember what I was like at your ages.”

“Ew, Dad, get out!” Felicity made a face and launched Squish at him. She laughed as he caught it and threw it back. She caught it and tucked it between her and Branson.

“Your Dad is the best.” Branson sighed. Even through her barriers she could feel the sadness wafting off of his skin where their arms brushed. “You’re so lucky.”

“That is my name.” She rocked her shoulder against his playfully. “And you know you can stay as long as you like, right?”

“I know.” He finally smiled, reaching over to grab her hand. “And thanks. I’m really glad you’re always there for me.”

Felicity squeezed his fingers, feeling pleased with the way his blue eyes relaxed at the gesture. “That’s what best friends are for.” They lapsed into silence, as the opening recap was over, and focused in on the episode. It wasn’t until her dad called them to dinner that she realized Branson had never let her hand go.


	5. First Date and First Steps

“Hey Mr. Harkness.” Felicity froze in her chair in front of her vanity, as Branson’s voice carried up the stairs. “Is Lissi ready?”

“Martha’s doing her hair, so she’ll be down soon.” Her dad responded. “And I’ve been telling you since you were fourteen to call me Jack. Mr. Harkness makes me feel so old.”

“Yeah because a couple hundred years isn’t old.” Martha snorted from above her. Their eyes met in the mirror, and Felicity gave her a nervous look. She was seventeen, this was her first ever official date, and it was a dance. “Almost finished.” Martha clipped a crystal studded butterfly into the intricate braided knot she had made of Felicity’s white blonde and neon pink hair. All but a few expertly formed curls was swept up, and those curls hung down around her face and behind her ear.

“How do I look?” She stood to show her Aunt the tea length black and silver dress her dad had okayed. It came up the front, to form a choker around her throat, but exposed her full back. She wore a pair of black heels, with silver bottoms.

“Stunning, as always.” She picked up a powder brush and tapped Felicity’s nose with it softly. “Remember, Uncle Micks and I will be right down the street at dinner, while your dad babysits Ricky. If you need us, come get us.”

Felicity looked into the mirror and smoothed her dress. Sometimes, it shocked her how much the last three years had changed her. She looked her age now that her human half had discovered what puberty was. When Branson had asked her to the dance two weeks before, she had wanted to say no. It was kind of pointless, seeing as how she could never have a relationship anyways. She had told her dad so, but he said that being practically immortal was not an excuse to keep herself away from experiencing love and joy.

“The Doctor did.” He had told her. “I watched him block out Rose. Keep her at arms length, and I know that when he lost he he regretted every time he pushed her away.” Then he had splashed dishwater at her playfully. “So you go to that dance, and you get your first kiss. If it goes beyond that, I’ll kick his ass.”

The last two weeks, the hand holding and studying had changed. There was a charge to the air, a hesitancy to the touch, and she often caught Branson turning around in class to smile at her. “I’m ready.” She turned back to Martha who handed her a tiny purse with a silver chain.

As they came down the stairs, Branson was waiting. The last three years had been more than good to him as well. Between rugby and the gym, his baby fat was all gone. His black suit and silver shirt hid the muscles that he had developed, but she knew they were there. Hell, every girl in school knew they were there. “Wow.” He gasped in unison with her dad. “You look gorgeous.”

“Jaw off the floor.” Her dad laughed and came over to kiss her on the forehead. He leaned down to whisper in her ear. “Smile, you look beautiful.” She let herself relax, as he stepped back to let her go to her date. “Be back before one.” He held out the keys to his car to Branson. “And not a scratch.”

“Yes sir.” Branson nodded as he took the keys. “Shall we, my lady?” He asked extending an arm.

“We shall.” Felicity looped her hand through his arm and they made their way out to the car.

She didn’t know why he was so nervous, after all he had had about five girlfriends over the last few years. Granted, none of them lasted long because he said they just didn’t fit the bill.

When they got to the small hotel that the school had rented out for the winter dance, she felt her anxiety begin to ease. This was Branson. She knew him, knew that he was a good guy. He would never try anything. “Drinks or dance first!” She asked, as soon as the lights from the photographer cleared her over sensitive vision.

“Dance.” Branson grinned. “I just hope those lessons your dad gave me paid off.”

“What?!” She couldn’t help but laugh, because her dad had been giving her lessons too. Then again, the music playing wasn’t exactly keeping up with what she had learned to.

Branson flashed her a smile as he twirled her out onto the floor. Glancing around at her classmates, she tried to find the right rhythm. She thought she was doing well, judging by the way he was watching her. Soon, though, she realized that she didn’t care if she was being just as good. They were having fun. “Your dad is fired from teaching dance.” He gasped as he pulled her away from the crowd of bodies to the drink table. “He didn’t cover any of those moves.”

“I think there’s a reason.” Felicity giggled as she watched Miranda and her boyfriend get separated by a chaperone.

“Let’s go out there where it’s not too loud.” Branson scooped two cups up and nodded to the open doors that led to a tiny outdoor eating area where those standing porch heaters were going. She wasn’t cold in the least, but Branson shivered and she saw some of the other girls pull their wraps around their arms.

She leaned against the railing, picking a spot close to one of the heaters, and took her cup. “Thanks for asking me.” She bit her lip as his blue eyes trailed over her dress.

“I’ve wanted to ask you for the last two years, but I didn’t think you’d come.” He reached up with one hand to tug the curl by her left eye playfully. “I’m glad I finally worked up the courage.” His fingers trailed along her face, making her hearts skip and her cheeks flush. She could feel and smell the pheromones rolling off of his skin, increasing as he touched her more.

“So am I.” His fingers felt wonderful on her skin, different than they had any other time they had touched. She wondered if it was because she had finally let herself give into the idea of possibly dating, that maybe being half time lady didn’t mean she had to push her human half aside. Felicity let her instincts take over, tilting her head up, leaning closer to him, and when he dipped in to brush his lips against hers she sighed.

Branson was experienced at kissing, but she tried not to think about that. In fact she tried not to think at all. She just tried to feel. It was perfect, until their tongues touched, and her hormones destroyed the barriers in her mind. Jumbled thoughts tumbled through their contact into her mind. He got a scholarship to an American college for rugby and wasn’t sure how to tell her. He wondered if maybe he could convince her to take a drink from the flask of rum in his coat pocket. The girl he dumped last week might be pregnant, but it probably wasn’t his if she was. Did Felicity want to have sex with him, and if so would she finally do it tonight?

Felicity pulled back with a gasp. She spoke before her better judgement took hold. “What?!” She hissed, shoving at his chest. Irritation, anger, and disappointment bundled in her gut making her feel light headed. “You’re going to America and your ex is probably pregnant?!”

Branson looked like he’d been slapped. “How did you?” He stared at her wide eye, and she knew the instant he matched this moment to one from their childhood. “It’s true. I knew it!” He grabbed her arm and pulled her further away from the people who were beginning to stare. “You can read minds! Why didn’t you tell me?! I’m your best friend, and maybe your boyfriend?!”

“Why didn’t you tell me that you’re going to the States to okay rugby, or that you got Melinda pregnant?” She retorted, swallowing hard. She felt tears rising into her eyes, and she tried to blink them back. “That’s something you should tell your best friend and almost girlfriend, don’t you think?!”

“What the bloody hell are you?!” Branson took a step back, staring at her with a look she hadn’t seen in six years. “I never asked. I swore I never would, because we were friends.” His voice raised an octave. “Your skin is colder than everyone else, you hardly sleep, you never get sick, and you read minds. What are you?”

“I’m human!” Felicity stomped her feet, feeling her tears fall. This was all going wrong. She needed to run, now, but he was blocking her exit.

“Bullshit.” Branson shook his head. “What are you really?”

“I’m, I’m.” She saw some of their fellow students begin to crowd around. “I’m a freak.” She sobbed, shoving past him and running. She snagged her purse from the table where she’d left it, and dashed into the street. It was only three blocks to the restaurant where her Aunt and Uncle were, and she focused on that.

In her mind though, she was screaming. She had gone and blown it. Everything her family had worked to keep secret and safe was gone all because of her stupid human emotions. It wasn’t fair. She had done everything the way her dad and aunts had encouraged her to. She had tried to live a normal life, tried to fit in, but she just couldn’t.

Her mind was in such a maelstrom that she didn’t smell the heavy wave of artron energy from up ahead. She didn’t feel the powerful mind reacting to her mental cries and rage in stunned wonder. What she did feel was the solid body of a man as she crashed into him, hot tea spill down her dress, and fingers that were just slightly cooler than hers for the first time in her life touch her arms. They steadied her, holding her upright, before clasping the sides of her head and tilting her mascara streaked face up to look into steel blue eyes shadowed by some very serious gray eyebrows.

Then, she felt his mind through his fingers. His barriers were solid, expertly in place, but there was a singing that rolled through his fingers, and it touched an empty spot in her mind that her subconscious had ignored. The Gallifreyan blood in her veins rejoiced as it recognized the same species. “You’re the Doctor.” She didn’t have to ask. It was the only explanation.

“Well you know who I am, but I have no idea who you are.” His eyes searched hers, confusion evident across his face. “Although I know why you’re crying. You were broadcasting so loudly I could have heard you all the way from Mars.”

“I’m Felicity.” She sniffled, wiping at her face with her hands. She finally met the Doctor, and she was sobbing like an idiot. “Felicity Seren Harkness.”

“Jack.” The name came from the Doctor’s lips in a mixture of a curse and an explanation. “Come with me. Let’s get some tea, since you’re now wearing mine, and see what secrets Jack has been keeping from me this time.” He took her by the arm and began steering her forward. Then she saw it, the TARDIS, sitting between a bus stop and a tree.

“No.” Years of her families words tumbled from her lips. “I am under no circumstances to enter the TARDIS without someone from my family.” She pulled her arm back, feeling her hearts pounding and her respiratory bypass threaten to kick in. It was the Doctor. It was the TARDIS. Every fiber of her being was telling her to run through those doors, because that’s where she belonged. Her mind was telling her to call her Daddy and run back to the safety of all that was familiar.

“I see.” The Doctor frowned. He stared at her intently, and then he pulled something from his coat. “Did your family give you any other instructions in case we ever crossed paths?” His eyebrows narrowed, as he analyzed her face.

“That I was to call one of them immediately.” She couldn’t stop staring at him long enough to make her fingers pull her phone from her purse. He raised an eyebrow at her. “Which I should do, right, because you’re the Doctor and that’s the TARDIS.” She forced her eyes down to the clasp on her purse and pulled her phone out. She pressed her dad’s number, then dial. She heard her dad answer. “Daddy.” She managed to gasp, realizing she still sounded like she was crying.

“Princess.” The sound of his voice and the concern it held made her tears begin anew. “Lissi, baby, what’s wrong?”

Before she could reply, the Doctor snagged her phone and held it up to his ear. “Hello again Jack. It’s been a while.” Felicity could hear her father’s strangled exclamation on the other end of the line. “I seem to have found a girl claiming to be your daughter running down the street crying.” He paused mid sentence as her dad shouted something about shooting or castrating someone. “Yes, well, she’s a very interesting young lady. Smart enough not to get into strange boxes with random men, at least. I’m bringing her home because I think we need to have a chat.” He passed the phone back to Felicity.

“Doctor” her dad’s voice sounded panicked and strained.

“It’s me Daddy.” She sniffled, wiping her eyes again. “Is it okay to go with him?”

“Yes, Lissi. Give him our address. Make sure he doesn’t take any detours, code mauve or not.” He paused. “Is he alone?”

“I think so.” She looked around, not seeing anybody else.

“I was afraid of that. See you soon Princess.” He ended the call with a heavy sigh.

Felicity slid the phone back into her bag, looking up at the man before her. Then she stared at the TARDIS sitting innocently just down the way. “That’s really the TARDIS?” She breathed.

“Want to come and see?” The Doctor held out a hand, and Felicity knew from the stories what would happen, what always happened, if she took it. It was a choice, and somehow she knew that he knew that she knew.

She swallowed hard, wiped the last of her tears from her face with one hand, and slid her other palm into his. She breathed a sigh of relief as their skin touched. There was a sense of belonging, of finally being with someone who was like her. “Doctor, I’ve waited six and a half years to step through those doors.” She didn’t miss the smile that pulled up his lips as he led her forward.

 


	6. The Key to the Universe

A curious tickle was pressing against her mind, as the Doctor pushed the door open and let her step through. It wasn’t until her bare feet touched the ramp that she realized she must have lost her shoes somewhere in her escape. That tickle became a curious stroke of her mind, and she hesitantly welcomed it into her thoughts. Then the lights inside the TARDIS flickered and blazed to life. “Oh, my, god.” Felicity gasped as she took everything in.

It was different than what she had heard described. It was cleaner, more open, sporting two stories. Books were scattered everywhere on the steps, and on the upper floor were rows and rows of bookshelves. The console in the middle had a yellow time rotor, that led up to rotating panels with circular symbols she remembered Aunt Sarah Jane sketching. They were Gallifreyan. “She’s amazing.” Felicity gasped, trailing her fingers along the rail.

An amused tinkle echoed faintly in her mind, something similar to the way Aunt Sarah used to laugh at her when she was a child and did something funny. Felicity reached our for the console, her fingers yearning to run along the buttons and switches.

“Don’t.” The Doctor’s voice cut through from behind her sharply, then it softened. “Don’t touch the console yet. Wrong button and you can rip apart the fabric of reality.”

She yanked her hand back and blinked at him. Then she saw he was smirking. “Liar.” She quipped.

“Great, so you already know Rule one.” He shot back, coming around to begin throwing switches.

“Dad and my aunts and uncles say rule one is don’t wonder off.” She edged her way around the console, spinning slowly as she took it all in.

“That used rule one. I realized everyone broke it, so I changed it.” His eyebrows arched playfully at her. “So, address, or at least the general vicinity. The TARDIS really doesn’t like getting too close to Jack.”

Felicity fired of the address, and within seconds the TARDIS gave a jerk. A laugh escaped her lips as she grabbed onto the console and met his wild eyes over the controls. “This is amazing!” She shouted over the whir of the engines.

“Press that red and blue button by your right hand.” The Doctor called, flipping a few switches. She pressed her index finger over the button and yelped as a needle of some sort pierced her finger. She pulled it back, seeing a drop of blood saturate the button and then fizzle away.

“It stabbed me!” She was more shocked than hurt.

“Blood sample, to make sure you’re healthy and all that.” The Doctor waved his hand, as he grabbed onto the display screen and narrowed his eyes in concentration.

“I’m not fully human.” Felicity found her footing enough to join him at the monitor. She couldn’t understand the swirling circles and strange runic symbols. “I never get sick.”

“D’you know what this says?” He tapped the screen with one finger, those blue eyes carefully gauging her facial expressions.

“No.” Felicity shook her head. Of course she didn’t nobody she was raised by had been able to read Gallifreyan. “But it’s Gallifreyan right? Aunt Sarah Jane says Gallifreyan is untranslatable by any system in the universe.”

“There’s another name I haven’t heard in quite some time.” The Doctor hummed just as the TARDIS gave a jerk, and a wheezing groaning noise began. “Besides Jack and Sarah Jane, who else is in your family?” His face was unreadable, but he looked grumpy. Then again, that could have been his eyebrows.

“Uncle Mickey and Aunt Martha.” She stumbled into him, as the TARDIS gave a final jerk and the noises whorped into silence.

“Come on. I need to have a chat with your dad.” He pushed the display screen away, and began heading for the door.

“Doctor, wait!” Felicity grabbed his arm this time. “They tried to call you, you know. When I was a baby, then again when something happened when I was ten.” The Doctor’s blue eyes, which were furious and yet a bit terrified, softened slightly.

“So you know what you are?” He asked, taking her palm and pressing it flat against his. “Why this makes that gaping hole in your mind feel suddenly full and not as lonely.”

Felicity was about to answer when a pounding echoed from the doorway. “Doctor, you bring my daughter out here right now.” Her dad’s voice echoed from the other side.

Felicity dropped her hand from the Doctor, raced across the metal floor, pulled open the door, and threw herself into her father’s waiting arms. “Dad.” She didn’t care that he felt so wrong. She needed her dad. “I told you I shouldn’t have gone to that stupid dance.” Seeing him threatened to start her tears again. She realized that the TARDIS had materialized in the back garden.

“Did Branson hurt you?” Felicity nodded, burying her face into his pajama shirt. “Where? Did he hit you or-“

“From what I overheard, he possibly got someone pregnant, is leaving to go to the states, and embarrassed her in front of the entire dance.” The Doctor’s voice came from behind her. “I didn’t ask for the whole story.”

“It was an accident, Daddy, I sweae.” Felicity pulled her face back, looking up at her Dad. “He kissed me, and my barriers fell. I couldn’t get them back up fast enough.”

“Shhh, Princess.” Her dad kissed her forehead and smoothed her hair. “Come inside and change and wash your face. I’ll make some tea.” The he looked over her shoulder at the Doctor. “Your questions have to wait until my girl is taken care of.”

“I’m gonna shower too, Dad.” Felicity looked back at the Doctor who was watching them with a veiled look. “You and the Doctor catch up.”

“Keep it down, Ricky is asleep in your room.” Jack called after her as she headed inside. She made it up the stairs to her room, and sure enough, one year old Rickey was sound asleep in her bed surrounded by pillows.

She tiptoed to her closet to grab a pair of yoga pants with a red band and a red vneck top. She showered in the hottest water, trying to scrub away every bad emotion through her skin. Everything felt too much, too loud, too harsh. Felicity knew that going to the dance, letting her friendship dance over the line to romance was a bad idea, but she did it anyways. Now she hurt, she hurt so bad she thought her hearts were going to explode.

Once she was sure she had erased every trace of the makeup, perfume, and hair product, she stepped out of the shower. Combing her hair, she pulled it up into a messy bun, and sighed at her appearance in the mirror. She looked just like every other teenage human experiencing their first heartbreak. Finally, one normal thing about her. “Okay, let’s do this.” Felicity tiptoed quietly through her bedroom to the hall.

“She was nine months old Doctor.” Her dad was trying hard not to yell, she could tell by the strained rise in octave. “And it’s not like you were around.”

“No, Jack, you do no get to push this back on me.” The Doctor wasn’t shouting either, but he was angry. It made his Scottish accent thicker, more pronounced. “She should have been my responsibility. She’s the Master’s daughter. By Gallifreyan law, I should have raised her!”

“Well then you should have answered your damn phone!” Someone slapped a counter top. “For sixteen years, Doctor, sixteen years, I have called you. I don’t care if she’s a half human half Time Lord child of the Master. She’s my daughter. I’ve been there for her, every day, since she was nine months old.” There was the sound of the tea kettle whining. “Besides the Master is gone. He’ll never be able to find her or hurt her.”

“No, he’s not.” The Doctor’s voice was sharp. “The Cybermen a while back, when all the graves started opening, that was him. I mean her. It’s a bit complicated.”

“The Master is back, and he’s a woman?” Felicity creeped down the stairs, trying to see their faces. Her mind was reeling.

She knew all about the Master, how evil he was, all the cruel things that had happened during the year that never was. He was back, and he was her father. “What?!” She flew down the stairs, storming into the kitchen. “The Master is my father?!” She rounded on her dad. “You knew all this time?!”

“Lissi, calm down.” Her dad reached for her, but she knocked his hand away. “Please, baby girl, just sit down.”

Felicity felt like vomiting. All her life she had heard about the Time Lords, how the Doctor was the best of them and how the Master was the worst. She had hoped, prayed, and pleaded that she came from a good one, after all, her mother had been human. “Why didn’t you tell me?”

“That is an excellent question.” The Doctor shoved his hands into his pockets and nodded to her. “I like her. She asks good questions.”

“We didn’t tell you.” Her dad sighed and began pouring the hot water from the kettle into mugs. “Because we didn’t want you to think that you were inherently bad because of who your parents were.”

Felicity wanted to scream, to throw something, to rage at the world. Tonight was the worst night of her life. “No wonder I can’t control my telepathy.” She flopped down in a chair and glowered at them both. “Because I’m the offspring of a madman.”

“You can’t control your telepathy because you’re a child, and your mind instinctively reaches out for another Time Lord.” The Doctor pulled a chair next to hers and held out his hand. “May I?”

Felicity shot her dead a look, and he nodded. “Please.” She leaned forward as the Doctor’s fingers brushed her temples. The again she felt her mind respond to his, an instant singing deep in the forgotten recesses of her consciousness. Slowly, she focused on her barriers, erecting the mental wall that she had struggled for years to build. It snapped into place easier than it had in her entire life. She could still feel him, even when his fingers fell away, but the barrier held strong. Her mind knew he was there, but the instinctive searching was quieted.

“How’s that?” He gave her a smile, a soft, inquisitive one that made his aged eyes wrinkle. “Quieter?”

“Yes.” Felicity had become so accustomed to the background buzz of thoughts and emotions, like white noise turned down so low it was barely audible, that the sudden silence was shocking. She turned her eyes to her dad, feeling the wonder of what she had finally managed to do fill her chest. “Dad, it’s so quiet.”

Her dad was watching them, holding two mugs, his face a look of understanding, relief, fear, and loss all rolled into one. “That’s great Princess. Here.” He held out a mug to her.

Felicity took it and stared down at the cloudy liquid. There was a question in the air, all three of them were asking it without speaking. The Doctor was staring at her. Her dad was staring at the Doctor, and she couldn’t figure out who to stare at. Then there was a knock at the door.

“Branson.” Felicity sighed as she remembered her dad had loaned him his car. “Dropping off your keys.” She pushed herself away from the table.

“I’ll handle this.” Jack left them sitting at the table and made his way to the living room.

“That’s your boyfriend then?” The Doctor raised his cup to his lips, and she noted a gold band on his left ring finger.

“No, not really, was our first date.” She took a sip as well, but she didn’t bother to taste it. She just took her time to try to figure out the man sitting across from her. It was like someone had breathed her bedtime stories to life. “You’re married?”

“Yes.” The Doctor's eyes sparkled but then dimmed, and he frowned. “Well, I was, but she died. Well, actually she got uploaded into the largest datacore in the universe.”

“That’s uh, well.” She didn’t know what to say to that. “Unfortunate.”

“Are you happy here, Felicity?” He set his cup down and leaned back in his chair, folding his hands in his lap. She thought he looked like a professor or maybe a shrink, when he did that.

“I’m.” She looked down at her own cup, unable to meet those glacial eyes. She wasn’t unhappy. She loved her family, her few friends, if she even had any left after tonight, and her school. It was a comfortable feeling. “I’m not unhappy.”

“I see.” Something shone in his fingers, as he tapped his thumbs together. The look on the Doctor’s face said he saw right through her. “I trust your family has taught you all about, well.” He gestured over her shoulder to the TARDIS visible through the glass.

Felicity nodded. She had a million questions buzzing around in her mind. It was the first time in her life that her brain felt too full, to disorganized. She saw her dad come back into the kitchen and he was pulling a key off of the nearly full ring.

“I never had a chance to give this back.” He held out the single silver key to the Doctor.

“Keep it.” The Doctor shook his head.

“I was thinking actually.” He drew a deep breath, then met Felicity’s eyes. “That maybe it’s time to pass it along. If that’s okay with you, Doc.” His voice was the saddest she had ever heard.

This was it, the moment of truth. She couldn’t bear to look at the Doctor. She was the biological daughter of his worst enemy, why would he agree to take her along with him.

“Of course it’s okay with me, Jack.” At the Doctor’s words, her eyes jerked up and she saw him watching her with an amused smile. “But it’s always Felicity’s choice.”

“Daddy. I love you.” She pushed her mug aside and stood up to wrap her arms around her father. “I love you and Aunt Sarah Jane and Aunt Martha and Uncle Mickey, but I need to learn who I am.” She looked up at him, before planting a gentle kiss to his cheek. “I’ll come back to visit, I promise.”

“I know, Lissi girl.” Her dad kissed her forehead, and she saw tears glistening in his eyes. “Go pack a bag.” He gave her a gentle push away, and she glanced at the Doctor who was wearing an understanding smile. She was halfway to the stairs when her dad called out. “Make sure you take extra trainers. There’s always lots of running.”


	7. Helping is priority

The Doctor watched Felicity from the top level of the TARDIS control room. He had left Felicity and Jack to say their farewells in the garden, because he wasn’t much for goodbyes, even when they didn’t apply to him. It had been good to see Jack again, even though just looking at the man made his every atom crawl. It reminded him of a time when things were simpler, when his losses hadn’t turned him into, well, the kind of person who sent his own wife off to die and lied through a smile that he’d see her again.

Yet, after eight months of kicking about on his own for a bit, he had gotten a craving for some tea that could only be found at a certain restaurant in a tiny part of London. He had been quite set on drinking that tea and coercing the TARDIS into archiving River’s office. The old girl had been adamantly refusing, even going so far as to deadlock the door.

The Doctor had only gotten two sips of his tea when he had felt the fear and anguish and self loathing explode over him. The mental signature had been so familiar, but also inherently different. It had been more feminine and diluted by humanity. That’s when the teenage girl had crashed into him, and those sea-foam green eyes from his child hood had blinked up at him in shock. Felicity, the Master’s daughter, was standing below him now.

Except, she wasn’t the Master’s daughter, not totally. Sure, she bore his genetics. The TARDIS had confirmed that through the blood sample, but being raised by his friends had protected her from inheriting the Master’s sadistic, sociopathic nature. No, the teenage girl below him, with Jack’s old war duffle on her back and the neon purple suitcase in her hand was Koschei’s daughter. By Gallifreyan law, she should have been his ward, been taken into his home, and he should have been the one to raise her in the stunningly intelligent young woman she was already becoming.

The TARDIS prodded at his thoughts, a wordless reminder that staring and brooding was rude, and she accompanied it with the image of the bedroom section of the TARDIS. It had been so long since someone actually lived on board, he hadn’t even considered offering the room. “How often do you sleep?” The Doctor forced a smile as he pushed away from the rails to come down the stairs. “I’m assuming not nightly, as humans do.” He noted he was doing the hand wringing thing, so he shoved his fingers into his pants pockets

“The longest I’ve gone is five days.” Felicity answered, and he marveled at how her voice held inherent fluidity to speak Gallifreyan despite never having heard the language. He doubted she even realized it. “But that was because I pushed myself. I start getting sleepy around day three.”

“Right.” He reached the final step and dropped down. The Doctor was a bit out if his element. Usually his companions ended up on board after a near death experience or something similar, then exhaustion on their part dictated the need for a bedroom. Felicity had foreknowledge, and it threw him off just a bit.

“She keeps tickling my barriers.” Felicity was following him as he circles the console, powering up his ship for a trip.

“She’s curious.” He felt the TARDIS flicker her lights in agreement. “Go ahead.” He watched just through the glass of the time rotor as Felicity let her eyes droop halfway shut and then shoot open wide. “Wow! She’s so, well, so big!”

The Doctor couldn’t stop the laughter that bubbled out of his chest. His previous human companions had base mental relationships with the TARDIS, except for Rose and River. Though Rose never remembered or understood why she could communicate with the TARDIS better than she had before, she loved it. River, well, River was as much the TARDIS’ daughter as she had been Amy and Rory’s. The TARDIS had doted on her like any mother would. This though, was different. He could feel the TARDIS responding to the half Time-Lady’s brain, and his beautiful ship was as giddy as a five year old bringing home a new puppy.

“Take that corridor, go past the macaroon machine, first left, second right, and you’ll find the bedrooms.” He waved his hand at her. “Pick one, leave your things, and we’ll see what the ol girl has in store for us.” Felicity giggled and disappeared down the hall.

“You like her.” He patted the console affectionately. The TARDIS had always been a better judge of character than he had. The ship hummed inside his mind, gentle teasing his insecurities about bringing such a young girl on board. “Yes, but Susan was my granddaughter. She was raised on Gallifrey. Felicity isn’t Susan.” He began dialing in coordinates, but the TARDIS deleted them and through up a different set. “No, they always want to time travel first.” The Doctor glowered at the screen and tried to input in the time coordinates again, but the TARDIS stubbornly kept the planet location up.

“I’m back!” Felicity’s mental presence brushed his seconds before she spoke. She skipped up to the control panels next to him, her elbow length neon pink and platinum blonde curls bouncing. “Can we see a planet?” Her eyes were wide in excitement as she grinned at him.

The TARDIS gave a smug ‘I Told You So’ hum in his mind. “That’s just what I was thinking.” He pulled the lever down, feeling that manic excitement that came with showing someone the universe begin to bloom. The TARDIS gave a jerk, and the Doctor stumbled to the side, bumping into Felicity, who tripped and flew backward into the railing. When the ship came to a stop, he extended his hand to the laughing girl. “I should have warned you to hang on.”

“It’s fine.” Felicity scrambled to her feet, her cheeks flushing just a bit with the giggles rolling over her lips. “It’s great! It feels amazing.” She gave a full body shiver, and he knew that she was experiencing the full wave of artron energy coursing across her skin for the first time. Her eyes flicked to the door, and she bit her bottom lip. “Is that really a planet?”

“Go and see.” Before the words left his lips, she was halfway to the door. He followed after her, watching as she stepped out into the warm air of the Anadriad capitol city. The silver skinned humanoids didn’t even blink at either of them when he joined her.

“Where are we?” She brushed her hair from her face and tilted it up to bathe in the cool light that came from the small white dwarf star that was the sun.

Part of him wanted to do the usual showing off, rattle the name and system while his new companion stared around in wide eyed wonder, but he knew that this wasn’t just some young human. She needed teaching, guiding, directing. “You tell me.” She opened her mouth to speak, but he took her hand in one palm and gestured with the other. “You’re part Time Lord, so you should be able to sense Time Lines, to feel them, read them.”

“How?” She fingers tensed in his. “I’ve never tried to do that before. Sometimes things just pop into my brain, confusing strings of images in different hues. Are those time lines?”

“Yes, now focus on some of those images.” He watched as her brow furrowed in concentration. “Not too hard, let them just fall into focus.” Her face relaxed some as she drew in a breath. He could feel her nervousness through her skin.

“I can’t find the planet name, but it’s the third.” She paused. “No fourth dynasty of the civilization, and the planet itself is only eleven thousand years old.” Felicity winced and shook her head, heaving a sigh. “Am I right?”

“Close, the sun is eleven thousand years old, but the planet is only eight thousand.” He gave a gentle tug on her hand. “The planet’s name is Anadria. Let’s go have a look.”

Felicity nodded, keeping close to him as they wandered up the street. “They’re so beautiful.” She whispered, nodding at a group of women walking past. Their hair was paler than hers, nearly translucent, and the sun made their skin shimmer.

The Doctor was sure they were beautiful, but physical attractiveness had faded from his noticing a thousand years ago. The older he got, the less he noticed such trivial things. “Their skin is quite shiny.”

“So is this really what you do?” Felicity pulled away as two kids ran between them, but she held tightly to his hand. It felt nice, almost familial, the way their minds brushed together. The gaping hole where the Time Lords had once resided in his mind seemed less empty now, and the sensation eased some of his crankiness. Like paracetamol easing a headache.

“Visiting places?” He nodded, coming to a stop as she paused to peer into a shop window showing elegant cakes. “Yes, but usually There’s more running and usually something blowing up.”

No sooner did the words leave his mouth, than an explosion came from around the corner followed by some shouting. “Like that?” Felicity’s face broke into a manic grin, and she took off at a sprint. The Doctor clutched her hand, keeping pace with her as they rounded the corner and nearly crashed into a crowd.

Two men were facing off, one with a blade of some sort and the other with what looked like a whip. A burning pile of what may have been some food cart was scattered across the road. “You stupid Mackens! How dare you try to peddle your subpar food on this corner! This is a Bartix street!” The one with the blade spat at the other’s feet.

“I can sell my food wherever I damn well please!” The man with the whip gave a growl. “You don’t own the streets, no matter how many of you buy up the businesses.”

“They look the same.” Felicity whispered. “How do they know who is who?” She went up on her tiptoes to try to see over the people in front of them.

“The Mackens and the Bartix are the two main races. The Mackens have blue eyes with purple pupils and the Bartix have purple eyes with blue pupils.” He had been here once before, when the Mackens were the more abundant race and had rules with a very superior attitude, but that had been in the second dynasty.

“Dah!” A young girl came running across the street. “Leave my Dah alone!” She squared off between the Macken man and the Bartix man.

“Teach your child her place!” The man raised his whip, and suddenly Felicity wasn’t holding his hand anymore.

“Stop!” The Doctor rushed forward, trying to stop her, but she tackled the girl out of the way of the whip.

“Leave her alone! She’s just a child!” Felicity stood up, rounding on the Bartix with a look so lethal the Doctor skidded to a stop. “What kind of man attacks a kid, you coward?!”

“Offworlders interfering is against the law!” The Bartix man tossed his whip to the side and grabbed Felicity. “Someone get the constable!”

“Let my granddaughter go!” The Doctor marched forward. “She is not of legal age to be held accountable!” He hoped the age laws still applied, but things seemed to have changed. His hearts pounded as he pulled Felicity to his side. “I am responsible for her and if she broke any laws, I will see that the fine is paid.

“Doc-Grandad.” Felicity blinked up at him, grabbing his hand. “I just can’t stand to see little kids hurt. I only wanted to help.”

He felt the insecurity waving through her fingers. She thought he was angry with her. Honestly, situations like this were far more familiar to him than leisurely educational strolls. “It’s fine, Lissi, let’s just speak to the nice constable here.” The Doctor offered a sincere smile to the uniformed man approaching them, but soon their hands were cuffed.

“There is no fine. Interfering offworlders must spend twenty-four hours in the city jail and then be escorted to their ship.” The Constable snapped his long fingers at more officers who had just landed on a small hove barge looking craft.

The Doctor fixed her with a look and nudged at her mind. She cautiously let him past her barriers. _Don’t resist and just stay close to me. Something isn’t right here._

 _Their thoughts feel like storm clouds_. She thought back, as they strode up the ramp. _Are we going to help_?

The Doctor arched his eyebrows and nodded. _Helping out is always out first priority. Now keep your eyes and ears open._ To her credit, Felicity’s mouth stayed shut the entire time they were being booked in.

 

 


	8. The Cloud and the Sun

Felicity stared at the ceiling from where she lay sprawled on the thin sleep pad that was on the floor. To any watching cameras, she seemed go be relaxing, when in reality she was calculating the exact distances from each turn they had taken while bringing brought down into the cell. She was also recounting exactly how many guard stations she had passed.

The Doctor was leaning against the cell door, pretending to be drumming his fingers on the bar, but she could see and hear the sonic faintly whirring from inside his sleeve. He kept shooting her furtive glances, as if wondering exactly what she was up to.

“Fifteen.” She stated, sitting up and crossing her legs. “Three at each of the five points.” She didn’t want to say exactly fifteen what, in case the camera in the corner had a microphone. “Then we went three left and two right.”

“Very good.” The Doctor nodded. “This is deadlocked though.” He pushed away from the cell door, crossed to her, and folded himself neatly to the mat beside her. “So we either wait for dinner or resonate the steel molecules. Resonating might take the full length of our sentence.”

“Dinner it is.” Felicity tried to narrow her time sense into calculating exactly how long it would take for someone to come unlock their cell and deliver it. “Six Earth hours.” She hesitantly offered, smiling to hide her uncertainty. She had already established that the hours here were measured differently.

“Good, good!” The Doctor beamed. “He tilted his head at her for a moment, before speaking again. “Do you always smile when you’re confused or unsure of something?”

Felicity reached up to cover her smile before lowering her hand and staring at her now chipping polish. Nobody had ever noticed that habit of hers before. “Yes.” She glanced up at him again, trying not to feel uncomfortable under his inquisitive stare. She has expected him to be more verbose, given her family’s descriptions, but he seemed as perplexed by her existence as she felt in his presence.

“I can feel your mind whirring away.” The Doctor bumped her knee with his. “I’m not peeking, but I feel it. What are you thinking?”

“Do I look like him?” The question bubbled past her lips before she could stop it. “The Master I mean. I know our people regenerate, but I’d like to know if I look like my parents?”

“You have his childhood eyes, but that’s it.” The Doctor’s lips were pursed, and he clasped his hands on his lap. “But you have Lucy’s nose, and her smile. When you regenerate, you’ll probably lose those features.”

“Does regeneration hurt?” Felicity reached up to toy with a curl that had fallen over her shoulder.

“If anyone you care about asks that, you’ll always answer no.” The Doctor’s eyes were suddenly heavy and distant as he looked down at his hands. “You’ll bite back the pain, smile even, to make them think that it’s nothing, but it burns. It’s like a billion microscopic supernovas in your skin. You feel everything you are melt away into nothing, and then someone new swaggers off with your life.”

Felicity could feel the pain shimmering between them, hanging tenuously in the void between the spaces where their minds acknowledged each other’s presence. She wanted to reach out and touch him, but before she could, he reached up to run a hand over his face. “Was he always evil?”

The Doctor blinked at her and shook his head. “No.” He shook his head and reached over to still the hand toying with her curl. He pulled it down and pressed her petite palm flat against his. Their subconsciouses brushed against each other, testing, sensing, establishing feelers that merged and twisted. Again Felicity was in awe at the way their separate existences recognized each other as like creatures. “Something happened to him, as a child, and it drove him mad. Before that, no, he was my best friend.”

“That’s why you told Dad I should have been your responsibility? Because the Master was your friend?” Felicity brought her other hand up, touching his fingers until he uncurled them and pressed those palms together. She tried not to let her relief show, as her body relaxed. The only person she had ever had so much physical contact with was her dad, but he always felt so off. She loved him, but she realized that the way her body felt now is something that she should have known from infancy, a feeling of belonging.

“He wasn’t the Master then. First he was called Koschei, and then in school he was nicknamed Magnus.” The Doctor gave a smile that showed all of his teeth, made his eye brows raise, and the crows feet in the corner of his eyes stand out. “I knew as soon as I felt your mind, whose child you were. That’s why I came, to find my,” a string a lyrical syllables fell of his tongue. Her mind responded instantly, but it didn’t make any sense. “In English the closest translation is godchild, although Gallifreyans don’t worship any gods.”

“What does it mean though, the literal translation?” She honestly wanted to know. Felicity realized that musical language must have been Gallifreyan. She tried repeating the word, fumbling once on the way her tongue needed to relax, but then nailed it expertly on the second try.

“It means ‘the child of my kin who is not of my Loom’.” The Doctor explained. He clasped their fingers together then pulled his hands back. There was the sound of boots on the floor outside. “Shhhh listen.” He scrambled to his feet.

Felicity followed suit, and someone approached the door. It was a woman, this one with a black diadem over her translucent hair. When the Doctor gave a curt bow, Felicity executed a quick curtsy. “My apologies to you and your granddaughter, Sir Doctor of Gallifrey. When I received word of your arrest, I came quickly.”

Felicity glanced over at the Doctor, but he looked as confused as she was. “My apologies, your Majesty, but I’m not sure we’ve met.” He moved closer to the cell door, not even flinching as the guards behind her brandished swords.

“I was just a young thing then, all of sixty-five annuals. You helped with the invasion of the Mabars about a eight hundred annuals ago.” The Queen gestured at the door. “You, and any of your friends or family, have diplomatic immunity.” A guard stepped forward and unlocked it.

Felicity followed after the Doctor, doing as he had told her earlier. She kept her mouth shut and observed. It was hard, because she had so many questions. She reached for his hand, almost reflexively, and her mind quieted when he grasped it. “Princess Calla Pilvi?” He smiled widely. “Ah yes, I’m sure I look quite different to you as well.”

“You had blonde, wavy hair and a penchant for velvet coats.” The Queen nodded, then she gestured her hands at the hallway. “Please, come with me. Allow me to make up for this egregious mistake.”

Felicity walked with them, feeling increasingly anxious about the thinly veiled looks the guards were giving her. _Doctor_? She tried to keep her face blank as she reached for his mind.

 _I see them. Just smile and follow my lead._ He gave her fingers a squeeze of approval at her observations.

They emerged from the jail and were ushered into a black bubble looking craft, and soon were hovering towards a swooping palace that looked like it was carved from trees the size of sky scrapers and red metal of some sort. Felicity pressed her forehead against the against the dark glass and gasped. “It’s beautiful!”

“Thank you, sweetling.” Calla chuckled softly. “Have you ever been to our planet before?”

“No, Your Grace.” She turned back around when the Doctor gave a gentle tap to her knee. “I only recently started traveling with my Grandfather.” She offered the queen an embarrassed smile. “This is the first planet I’ve been to since I left home.”

“Forgive me, Doctor, but I thought I read that Gallifrey was destroyed.” The Queen didn’t sound like she was prying, but Felicity felt suddenly uncertain that she’d said too much.

“Yes, but Lissi here was born and raised on Earth, until she was old enough to travel with me.” The Doctor didn’t seem to think that this information was needed to be kept quiet.

“Well, then I guess you brought her at just the right time, Doctor. Today is my son’s three hundredth birthday, and we are hosting a courting gala in celebration.” The Queen’s words made Felicity almost grimace. She had already been to one dance in the last twenty-four hours. The last thing she needed was another embarrassing moment. “I’m sure the royal seamstresses can help Felicity find something to wear.”

“Well, turning down an invitation from the Queen would be offensive.” The Doctor chuckled as the bubble craft came to a halt above a glistening silver path in a stunning garden. The Queen exited first, and before they followed he whispered to her. “The Queen is anxious about something. Go with whoever she asks to dress you, but be ready for anything.” He ducked out quickly

“Okay then.” Felicity followed after, but stumbled. A firm hand caught her by the arm, and she blinked up into the face of the most gorgeous man she had ever laid eyes on. He had the same translucent hair and silver skin as all the others, but his eyes were different. They were a rich gold with blazing green irises, and when he smiled, it made them sparkle. On his head was a thick black crown set with what looked like rubies. “Sorry, I’m a bit clumsy.” She knew she was blushing.

“It is no problem at all, my Lady.” The man, who looked like he couldn’t be older than nineteen or twenty, stepped back and inclined his head in a respectful nod.

“Doctor, Felicity, allow me to introduce you to my youngest child and only son, Haul Emyr.” The Queen gestured at the man with an affectionate smile.

“Lord Doctor, Lady Felicity.” Haul shook the Doctor’s hand, but when Felicity extended hers, he raised it to his lips and kissed the knuckles. She felt her blush deepen even further.

“Three hundred today.” The Doctor flashed Felicity a knowing look, his words meant for her more than for the prince. “Happy Birthday.”

“Finally an adult.” Haul laughed as he released Felicity’s fingers, and it wasn’t until her hand dropped to her side that she realized his thoughts were more emotions than words. “Perhaps tonight I will find my bride, and officially take my place among my siblings.”

“Haul, I need to speak with the Doctor about what happened.” The Queen nodded at Felicity. “Perhaps you can escort this pleasant young woman to the seamstresses. She’ll need a dress for this evening.”

Felicity didn’t want to be separated from the Doctor. She had heard enough stories to know that splitting up usually led to trouble. Yet, the Doctor trusted these people, and she trusted him. “I’ll see you at the gala, Granddad?”

“Yes, Lissi, and remember what I told you, best behavior.” The Doctor offered his arm to the queen, and soon they were striding long up the walk.

“No need to worry, Lady Felicity.” Haul extended his arm to her, and she took it cautiously. “I’m sure you’ll be given something positively lovely to wear.” He flashed her that stunning smile again, and she could tell from where their skin touched that he meant her no harm. “Come. I imagine you weren’t given anything to eat or drink in that cell. We’ll stop by the kitchens and fetch you some wine and something to hold you over until the gala.”

“Thank you, Your Highness.” She hoped that she was giving the appropriate courtesies as they made their way to the guarded door.

“Please, call me Haul. You’re our guests.” He laughed as they walked along. “Would you prefer I call you something other than Felicity?”

“My family calls me Lissi.” She responded automatically. New emotions were rolling off of his skin into her mind, and she didn’t push to read them further. Her barriers blocked most of them, but she could sense that he was curious and found her attractive.

“Lissi it is then.” She tried to block out the way that word coming off his elegant purple tongue made her spine tingle. She was only sixteen, and he was nearly three hundred. The Doctor had already set the boundary there, and she didn’t want to cross that line. So she did her best to ignore it, as she drank in her surroundings.


	9. Formal warnings and insincere rejections

The Doctor sipped the wine that the Queen had offered him, as he mentally reached out to brush Felicity’s consciousness. She was with the seamstresses, and her thoughts were that bubbly awe that some young women got with fancy dresses and precious gemstones. She brushed back against his, letting him know she was safe with wordless affirmation. It had been so long since that hole in his mind had been filled, that it felt odd. She wasn’t able to share words from this far, but he knew the longer they spent together the easier she’d find it.

He knew that he shouldn’t let himself get attached, because the universe saw it as a game to rip things away from him, but he couldn’t help it. Her youthful exuberance was already washing away the darkness that had settled in over the loss of River and Clara, the woman whose face he couldn’t remember. She did so remind him of Susan, with her wide eyes and constant stream of questions. The Doctor hoped that maybe this time, the universe would not take away this point of light.

“Is the wine to taste, Doctor?” Calla’s voice made him turn away from the painting he was pretending to examine.

“It is.” In all honesty it was bitter and on the dry side, but he could sense that offering insult now would not be good. “Thank you.”

“Speaking freely, Doctor, you have a habit of appearing when things are beginning to look grim.” She swirled her own wine and moved closer. The Doctor could feel the anxiety and fear rolling off her like a storm. “Something is going on, Doctor, and I’m not sure what to do.”

“Tell me.” He set his glass aside, using the conversation as an excuse not to drink anymore.

“My husband passed away four annuals ago, and since then the main continent has been on edge. Class systems have begun establishing themselves again, not at a political level, but there has been a repetitive threats on the government buildings.” She ran a hand through her hair and looked down at the gold bracelet around her wrist, and the Doctor remembered it was the equivalent of a wedding band. “The official statement on the Kings death was a rare clotting disorder, but that was because we could find no cause for the blood clots. It runs in the Mackens race, my race, but not in the Bartix race.” She settled into a chair, looking suddenly her eight hundred years and not like a humanoid in their late forties.

“I see.” The Doctor paced the room, tapping his chin. “So you think he was poisoned or something, and that whomever is responsible is also behind the civil unrest.” It was one of the oldest forms of a coup in the universe. The Doctor had seen it happen a thousand times before, but according to the timelines he was observing, this was not supposed to occur. The absence of the king had created a gap in time, and the reality around them was frantically trying to compensate.

“I do, and, I am so sorry Doctor but even my transportation may have been bugged.” The Queens eyes met his as he froze. “They promised an attack tonight, if the Gala continued. I wanted to cancel, but Haul, he is so like his father. He insisted we continue, to prove we are not afraid.”

“Stupid move.” The Doctor pushed his coat back to stick on hand in his pants pocket, the other he let flail as he thought out loud. “Brave, but stupid. So, inviting Felicity and I was not just out of courtesy? You hope that we’ll be able to find out or stop this from happening?”

“You stopped the invasion when I was a child, Doctor. I just thought that your arrival was not merely a coincidence.” The Queen rose, holding out her hand in apology. “I understand that before you were alone, and now you have your granddaughter. I won’t ask you to put yourselves in danger.”

“Of course we’ll help.” The Doctor stopped in his pacing to answer her fretful look with what he hoped was a comforting smile. “That’s what I’m trying to teach Felicity, how to help people.” He extended his arm to the Queen as yellow tears of gratitude welled in her eyes. “Let’s just take a walk, two old friends, and let me see what I can discern.” The Queen dabbed her eyes and nodded before taking his arm.

On the other side of the palace, Felicity pretended to be zoned out. She was relaxing in a chair, while three handmaidens that Prince Haul left her with were combing luxurious smelling oils through her curly hair, removing the chipped polish on her toes and nails and replacing it with what looked like real gold flakes, and were scrubbing, washing, and painting her face into a natural glow. She pretended to be zoned out, because she was listening in on everything being said around her.

So far she had learned only a handful of things. There had been a terrorist threat made on the gala. The three princesses would not be coming in from their respective palaces around the globe, because two were pregnant and one had a nursling. The prince had no intention on actually finding a bride tonight, as he was only doing this to make a point to this possible terrorist group, and the last time the Doctor was on this planet he had managed to blow up the very wing of the palace where she was sitting.

The clock on the wall told her that it had been four hours since the Doctor had left her in the hands of Prince Haul, and the Gala was due to start in thirty minutes. Apart from a few hazy brushes of the Doctor’s thoughts, she hadn’t seen hide nor hair of him. She had asked one of the handmaidens, a lovely woman named I’tidal, if she had heard anything about him, and had been informed he had gone to fetch their ship and bring it to the Palace. Felicity had wanted to text him, to let him know what she had learned, but her phone had no signal, and she did not know if he carried on anyways. So she just hoped she would get to him as soon as the gala started.

“Let us get you into your dress, Lady Lissi.” I’tidal smiled as she painted the last bit of what could only be described as liquid, silver pearls onto Felicity’s lips. “Prince Haul will be here shortly to escort you down.”

Felicity sat up straight. No, she needed to get to the Doctor. “I thought my grandfather would be escorting me!” She took the woman’s silver hand as she stood, and let herself be hustled over to the changing area of what she had been told was the eldest princess’s previous suite.

“That was the original plan, but he just sent word that he will be the Queen’s escort for this evening, and that you are supposed to remember what he told you.” She tugged at the sleeve of the changing robe that Felicity was wearing, and Felicity quickly undid the belt and let it fall away. She held still as I’tidal twisted, tucked, and pinned the folds of the bodice into place. Then she allowed the woman to help her into the calf length boots she had chosen. They were heeled, like every other shoe that had been set out to be selected, but the heels were thicker and would be far more beneficial if there was to be running.

“Come and see.” Another servant took her arm and led her to the full length mirror along the wall. Felicity had seen the dress on the display and from her own vantage looking down, but what she saw in the mirror made her gasp. The shimmering black bodice was tight, accentuating her still developing curves, giving a lift to her usually small looking chest. The intricate braided folds came down to a curtain of black and silver silk feeling skirt that stopped only a few centimeters above the floor. They were pleated high on her hips, but each pleat fell open to completely cover her legs, no matter how she stepped.

Her curls had been half pulled up in such a way that they looked like the lovely flowers that were scattered across the room in vases, each pink highlight forming the center of the bloom. The other half hung down her back, shining from the spiced floral oils that had been combed through them. Her eyes had been lined, shadowed, and dusted with a smoky black and pearl color that made her eyes look unnaturally bright and inviting. Her cheeks had been dusted with a soft rose gold rogue that at first seemed weird, but complimented her porcelain skin. The silver paint on her lips had made her uncertain before, but it allowed the natural pink if her lips to shine through, giving off a fairy like shine. She didn’t look like an awkward sixteen year old anymore. She saw, instead, a woman who was confident in herself. “You ladies are magic!” She gasped.

“It has been a treat for us!” One of the women who was cleaning up grinned at her. “We haven’t had the chance to dress a young woman since Princess Daina Elowen married seventy annuals ago.” A knock made them all freeze, and I’tidal led Felicity to the door by her elbow. When I’tidal pulled it open, the Prince was standing in the hall. Felicity swallowed hard, stepping out to join him and executed a prim curtsy.

“No, no, Lady Lissi.” Haul laughed and shook his head. His hair had been combed back into three sleek braids that were pulled into a tight ball at the base of his neck, held in place by what looked like a pencil length dagger. His loose red and cream linen clothes from earlier had been traded for a long sleeve black shirt with gold clasps at his chest. The exact same color black made his pants, which were tucked into shining black boots that were adorned with the same gold fasteners, and a set of blood red metal bands looped around each of his wrists. He still wore the same crown as earlier. “You are our guests, long standing friends of our family, you need not bow.”

“Sorry.” She felt her cheeks flush in embarrassment and was treated to a dazzling smile as he extended his arm. “It’s my first visit here, and Granddad said I should be on my best behavior.” She took his arm, letting Haul lead the way down the hall.

“Sir Doctor is a very peculiar man.” Haul chuckled. “He gave me a message for you.” He turned her toward an empty corridor.

Felicity perked up at this news. “Oh? What message?”

“He said to avoid anyone carrying tea this time.” Haul looked a bit confused at this and arched an eyebrow as Felicity laughed out loud.

“He thinks he’s funny.” Felicity bit her lip to stop the giggles, then remembered her makeup and let it go. “The last, gala, I attended, my escort was not exactly polite. When I tried to get away, I crashed into the Doctor and spilled his tea all over my dress.”

To her relief, Haul chuckled. “Well I give you my promise to not be the reason you feel the need to run away from the Gala.” He gave her arm a delicate squeeze. “Mostly because my mother would probably murder me for offending a guest, and also in part because you look so lovely in that gown that I’d hate to ruin it.”

“Prince Haul.” Felicity hoped she wasn’t making a major mistake here, but despite the warm way his words made her feel, the Doctor had already made his stance on the subtle flirtations clear. “I’m only sixteen years old.”

“Your grandfather brought that up many times while he was with my mother.” Haul nodded. “But, you are a Time Lady and human, and I have read up on both races. Time Lords tend to far outlive our own, and human lives are so fleeting.” He pulled them to a stop and looked up and down the hall before pulling her into a dimly lit alcove. “What I believe you and he are trying to point out, is that you are two of your Earth annuals from adulthood.”

“Exactly.” Felicity tried to keep her smile cordial, but it was hard with the way those golden eyes twinkled at her from above those proud cheeks and nose. “You’re three hundred years old, even if you only look a few years older than me.”

“I respect your rejections, Lissi.” Haul inclined his head politely. “Even though I will point out that today is the first day I am acknowledged as an adult by my people’s standards. Like you, I am just another, teenager I believe is the wording. The mathematics were never my strong suit, but by Earth standards you would say I am eighteen.”

Felicity didn’t have a retort for that. She simply tried her best to ignore the enticing smile on his lips and the way the black material made his skin glisten. “Grandfather and my father wouldn’t approve. We should go.” She knew she should shut this down, because the one and only time she had tried to let someone in, it had hurt her deeply. She hadn’t even had time to properly feel the loss and betrayal of her closest friend yet, and here she was trying not to flirt with a prince of an entirely different species.

“Wait.” Haul released her arm to reach down into his boot. He pulled out a sheathed dagger no longer than her palm. “I’m sure you overheard the threat made on the Palace tonight. For my own peace of mind, keep this on you.”

Felicity heard every story of the Doctor she had been taught beating for attention in her mind. The Doctor did not like weapons. He had strongly disapproved of her dad carrying a gun. Still, he had never stopped any of his companions from carrying arms. “I have nowhere to put it.” She looked down at her sleeveless dress and sighed, then she remembered her own boots. “No, wait.” She hiked up her skirt to show one. Haul bent quickly and slid the dagger into her boot. It felt a bit uncomfortable, but not unbearably so.

“Shall we?” Haul righted himself and extended his arm again.

Felicity nodded, wondering if the the chaotic feel in the air was just from the fear or if it was her senses warning her. She let herself be guided to the doors leading to the ballroom, and tried her hardest not to blush and look down in embarrassment as she was announced as Lady Felicity Seren of Earth and Prince Haul was declared as her escort for the evening.

As she was swept out onto the dance floor, she caught sight of the Doctor at the Queen’s side. From this distance, she could feel his mind more completely, and she sent out a telepathic nudge in his direction. He let her in, and they both spoke in unison.

 _There’s an attack planned_.

The Doctor smirked in amusement and raised an eyebrow at where she was currently being waltzed around the floor. _Boots? Not exactly ball wear._

 _Stilettos aren’t exactly made for stopping a terrorist attack or running_. Felicity hoped the Prince thought her audible giggle was in response to the gentle way he had lifted her into a spin.

 _Have fun, but pay attention and stay away from the gold wine. It has ginger, and ginger makes us susceptible to alcohol_. The Doctor was taking the hand of the Queen who was leading him over to another small group, and his barriers slid back into place.

“Let’s see what sort of delicious things the chefs cooked up for dinner.” Haul beamed at her as he stepped back and bowed with the ending of the song.

Felicity followed the women around her in a short dip of her knees and head. “Please, I’m famished. That fruit we nicked from the kitchen feels like forever ago.” She took the initiative and forwent the arm holding to grasp his hand. “Just, nothing with ginger. I’m allergic.”

“Well I can’t have my Lady being hospitalized on my birthday.” Haul led her through the crowd with a laugh. “I’m nearly certain your grandfather would blame me, and if the stories I’ve heard of the Doctor are true, I’d rather not have him as an enemy.”

 


	10. Making the History Books

The attack had come with no outward warning. In fact, the only people who knew seconds before it happened were Felicity and the Doctor. The beeping had stabbed her ears just before she saw and felt the timelines of nearly forty guest begin to flare and flicker with a finality. “Get down!” She screamed, shoving the Prince and some man he had been talking with to the floor, as the massive chandelier, two hulking vases, and the set thrones at the top off a small stage exploded. One of those thrones had so recently held Haul, as he received his birthday gifts.

“Felicity!” The Doctor’s voice rang through the panicked screams and shouts. Through the haze of smoke, yellow mist of splattered blood, and tiny crystal shards she saw the Doctor shielding the queen. She had what appeared to be a metal rod of some sort sticking from her thigh.

“Doctor!” She scrambled to her feet and was about to rush to him when she saw the people in the purple robes. Their faces were covered, and they wore no armor, but they were going from guest to guest and driving various knives and shards of broken metal and glass into chests. “No!”

She darted across the floor, every lesson that Martha, Mickey, and her dad had taught her kicking in. She disarmed the first one, with a quick twist of their arm, feeling the bones snap. The scream of pain was muffled by the mask they wore, and she delivered a sharp blow to their temple. The robed figure collapsed to the floor. She didn’t kill anyone she confronted, disabling them without drawing the dagger in her boot. Yet, the guards were pouring in now, and they beheaded those in robes without hesitation.

She felt the clouded angry thoughts of someone approaching her, the single minded lethal intent to stab her in her bare back, but as she turned the dagger clattered to the floor, and Prince Haul yanked his own dagger from the side of the person’s neck. His three braids hung half tangled down his back, and his silver skin was darkened to an onyx color in his cheeks as he panted. “Nobody touches Felicity.” He shoved the person away.

She was just about to say thanks, when she saw someone charging from their left. Cursing the long skirt, she kicked high, nailing them in the gut with all her strength. “We need to find the Doctor.” She glanced around trying to locate him, but he was nowhere to be seen.

“I saw him, my mother, and the head of planetary security leaving down the side hall.” Haul grabbed her hand and pulled her after him. She tripped over her skirts as she ran, and she let out a growl.

“Hang on!” She released his hand, yanked the dagger from her boot, and cut the now yellow blood stained material off a few inches above her knees. She shoved the dagger back into the sheath. “Okay, let’s go.”

“That really was a beautiful dress.” Haul gasped as they skidded into the hall. “But the view is good this way too.”

“Run now, check me out later, ‘kay.” She tried to concentrate on where the Doctor’s mind was. She got a faint impression of a wall of computer monitors. “Where’s the security room?”

“This way.” Haul gripped her hand tight and tugged towards a hallway were more guards were rushing out of. They raced along, dodging guards and guests fleeing around them, and came to a skidding stop at a smooth wall. Haul slapped his hand flat against it, and a door fizzled into existence. It made a snicking hiss as it it opened.

The Doctor was bent over a panel, his fingers flying, and the Queen was panting on a wall holding the Doctor’s black and red coat over her leg. “It’s about bloody time you got here.” He called over his shoulder as Haul dropped her hand and crouched over his mother.

“Was a little busy taking out possible assassins and saving people.” Felicity shot back as she joined him.

“Good girl. Take the sonic and go to that panel on the wall.” He tossed her the hefty blue, silver, and gold device. She hurried over to the section of wires and switches he hand pointed out.

“I thought.” A man who had to be head of security was at another set of controls. “You said you got rid of all of the explosives, Sir Doctor.”

“I must have missed a few.” At his words, alarms began wailing and outside of the single window, Felicity saw what looked like a web of energy begin to descend in a dome. “It happens.”

“What do you want me to do.” Felicity’s hearts were pounding as she watched the exchange. “Doctor?”

“Feel those grooves and indents on the side?” She nodded. “Press them in this order, second, fifth, ninth, second, third, and then shove the tip against the wires.” She did as instructed, and the sonic whirred and glowed as she shoved it into the color coded panel. The dome outside flared red. “What exactly did I do?”

“Sent out a signal to short circuit every communications device inside the dome.” With a few more taps of his fingers the alarms quieted, and he grinned at her. “So no commands can get inside to detonate any more explosives or issue orders to the attackers.” He finally looked at her now ragged dress. “If you hate dresses so much, I’m not letting you in the wardrobe.”

“Shut up.” Felicity stuck her tongue out at him.

“Your Majesty.” The head of security was kneeling next to Queen Calla now. “We need to get you to the hospital ward.”

“I’ll take her.” Haul tried to scoop her up, but his mother batted his hands away.

“Go with the Doctor and Felicity, Son, Captain Kalial will take me.” The Queen grimaced a smile. “Felicity, make sure he doesn’t get in trouble.”

Felicity blinked and nodded a bit in shock. “Yes Ma’am.”

“Oh for god’s sake, come on.” The Doctor gave an exasperated groan and grabbed her hand. They dashed back out into the now empty hall, with Haul scrambling after them.

When they got back to the ball room, a group of guards had one final robed person on his knees, his mask gone, and a sword was poised to swing down.

“Stop!” All three yelled at once, and the guard lowered his sword.

“Haven’t you ever heard of interrogation?” The Doctor snapped at the guard. He crouched down in front of the robed man. “Hello, I’m the Doctor. I hear I’m in the history books here. So, tell me who set this up.”

“I don’t answer to off worlders, you cretin.” The man spat at the Doctor’s face.

Felicity felt an urge to reach down and slap the man, but she just clenched her fists. “Answer the question.” She growled. “He just spared your life.”

“My Lady speaks truly, Jakgier. Treason is punishable by death with no trial.” Haul’s hand rested on Felicity’s shoulder and he squeezed gently. “Tell us and I will do all I can to petition for exile versus execution.”

“You know this man?” The Doctor glanced up at Haul, his brows furrowed in confusion. Felicity was just as puzzled. She had simply assumed it was some sort of random terrorists, similar to what happened on Earth.

“He was my father’s scribe, like his father before him.” Haul was frowning, but Felicity could feel the betrayal radiating through his hand. “We grew up together, played together, drove our parents mad with worry together. How could you do this?”

“The goddess ordered it before she left for paradise.” Jakgier sneered. “She said the people are not meant to be ruled. She ordered us to take back the planet as it was meant to be.”

“The goddess.” The Doctor snorted before Felicity could voice a similar response. “Your people haven’t worshipped any deities, ever.”

“What did this goddess look like.” Felicity moved away from Haul to try to kneel, but the Doctor waved her back.

“A goddess does not reveal herself to her subjects. She spoke in our minds.” Felicity saw his hands fiddling behind our back. “But it doesn’t matter now. We failed on her mission, and she has abandoned us. Now we accept our punishment.”

“His hands!” Felicity tried to grab his arm, but the man gave a short cry. She grabbed his elbow and gave her own yelp as a scorpion looking creature dropped to the floor. Haul stomped it with a crunch and twisted his boot to make sure it was dead.

The man began to convulse and a small metal container rolled away as he fell. The Doctor grabbed his shoulders, trying to hold him still, but yellow foam spilled over the now black lips and Jakgier’s body went limp. “He’s dead.”

“He was the last of them, your Highness. The ones who tried to flee were killed in the gardens.” What Felicity assumed was the head guard spoke, his eyes flashing. “Before communications were cut, we received word that your sisters’ palaces were also attacked, but the forces were small and nobody was injured.”

“I have a feeling.” The Doctor pushed himself to his feet and wiped his hands. “That this was an all or nothing attack. The man was telling the truth. Whoever rallied them together, this ‘goddess’ has left your planet.” He maid air quotes with the word goddess. “This misguided, anarchist rebellion shouldn’t bother you any longer.”

“Are you sure?” Felicity didn’t doubt him, because she could sense that broiling fear, that seemed to enshroud everything, fading away.

“I’m sure.” The Doctor heaved a heavy sigh as he surveyed the scattered bodies around him. “Prince Haul, if you would please escort my granddaughter to our ship, I’m going to bid my farewells to your Queen.”

“Granddad.” Felicity started to protest, but the Doctor shook his head. She closed her mouth, knowing that she was being sent away because he was trying to shield her from the carnage around her. “Right.”

“Of course Sir Doctor, although.” Haul’s hand found Felicity’s as he spoke. “She saved my life tonight. Perhaps she should be the one escorting me.”

The Doctor gave Felicity a look that sad to go, and she tugged at Haul’s arm. “Come on, Prince, let’s let the ‘adults’ talk.” She turned away from the Doctor, waiting until they were out of his very keen earshot. “You saved my life too.” She squeezed his hand, feeling suddenly tired as her fight or flight response relaxed.

“Then I guess that makes us even.” Haul flashed her a smile that was adorably shy, a total change from the overt flirtatious ones he had been giving. “Now you get to be in our history books too.”

“Not something I ever imagined.” The idea was mind boggling, and she leaned her head against his shoulder. Her family had told her that after a fight or life threatening moment, people yearned for contact. She had never believed it until now. Just touching Haul, feeling the life washing off of his skin onto hers was comforting. He pulled her to a stop in front of a curtained alcove. She could feel the TARDIS humming in concern against her mind.

“Here we are then.” Haul grabbed a roped and yanked. The curtain pulled up, revealing the sleek blue police box. A cloth bag was tied to the handles and when Felicity opened it she found her phone, clothes, and keys. “It’s so small.” He let go of the rope and tilted his head to observe it.

“Just on the outside.” Felicity laughed as she pulled her key ring out. “Want to see?” She wasn’t sure if it was allowed, but a peek wouldn’t hurt. She unlocked the door and pushed it open. “Come on.”

“Stars above.” Haul gasped as he followed her inside. She tossed her bag onto the jump-seat and giggled. “How does it all fit?”

“Something about trans dimensions. I haven’t gotten a full explanation.” Felicity felt the TARDIS tinkle a welcome into her thoughts, and the lights brightened warmly. “She’s amazing though, isn’t she?” She trailed her hand along the wall.

“Beautiful, more than meets the eye, just like you.” Haul moved a bit closer, his hand slipping into his pocket. Felicity swallowed, feeling her breath catch and stomach flip at his sudden nearness. His cheeks were darkened, just like hers felt. “Here.” He pulled out a red tablet about the size of his palm. “Take this. It’s communicator that works on subwaves. Our family uses it so it can’t be recorded by anyone.”

“Why are you giving me this?” She took it from his hands and stared at it. It seemed like an unimposing gift, but his face and hesitant waves of emotions said otherwise.

“In case you wanted to stay in touch.” Haul reached up and brushed a curl that had fallen in her face. “And take this.” He lowered his hand and pulled off one of the red bands on his wrist, picked up her hand, and slid it onto her wrist. “In case you ever decide-“

Felicity pressed up on her toes and cut him off with a soft kiss. “Happy Birthday, Your Highness.”

“Best gift of the night.” Haul laughed and pulled her close by the waist to catch her lips again. Felicity sighed, as instead of thoughts, she simply felt the waves of unabashed attraction, respect, and blooming adoration roll across her barriers. He didn’t think she was a freak or weird. He thought she was wonderful, unique, and special.

The sound of a throat clearing made them jump apart. “With all due respect, Prince Haul, we must be off.” The Doctor jabbed his thumb over his shoulder. “Your mother is looking for you.”

“Right.” Haul pressed his lips together to suppress a giggle as Felicity felt the guilt at being caught wash through her. Her embarrassment turned deeper as he slid his fingers down her arms to grasp her hand snd raise her knuckles to his lips. “Lady Felicity, I hope our paths cross again.”

“Me too.” She managed to whisper as he turned and walked past the Doctor.

“Teenagers.” The Doctor shut the door and swirled up the ramp. He wrinkled his nose at the blood soaked jacket in his hand and tossed it over a rail. “We need to talk.” He began flipping switches and turning knobs, and the TARDIS jerked. “Go shower and change and meet me in the Library.”

Anxiety washed through Felicity, as he didn’t meet her eyes. His face was deadpanned, and his thoughts were completely closed off, not a single wave of emotion was escaping. “Yes sir.” She grabbed her bag and started down the ramp to the hallway

“I’m not angry, Felicity.” He turned as he spoke. “I just need to explain some things to you.” He rubbed his hands over his face. “And don’t call me sir.”

Felicity nodded and hurried to get out of sight. Once she was safely in her room, she set the communicator down and glanced at the red band on her wrist. She still couldn’t shake the feeling that she was in trouble. The TARDIS tickled her mind with a mothering comfort. “Thanks girl.” She rubbed the wall and sighed, before slipping off the gift and setting it aside. She let her fingers linger on it, before turning to the door that led to her ensuite. Even if the Doctor was angry, she thought that such an innocent and sincere kiss was worth it.

 


	11. Lectures and Textbooks

The Doctor had parked the TARDIS in the vortex before showering off himself and tracking down some tea and sandwiches. He wasn’t mad at Felicity, not in the least. She was young, excitable, and entirely too impressionable, not too unlike another blonde teenage girl he had once stolen away. Still, he wasn’t sure if she quite grasped the concept of what was going on with her life.

He remembered all too well, surprisingly enough, what it was like to be sixteen. He remembered that, despite not having virile sperm or eggs, that the hormones began peaking then. Time Tots, as they were affectionately called, were warned away from engaging in physical relationships until they were older, more mature, to avoid any possibility of a marriage bond forming before the figured out exactly what life as an adult Lord or Lady was like. Most would marry for political reasons or to improve societal standings, but very few did marry for love, and those were glad they waited until their hearts and minds were ready.

He also knew, having spent enough time with humans, how such a thrilling adventure could drive their need to reach out and connect go someone. The younger they were, the stronger that need ran. That’s why before this body, he had always been so enthusiastically ready for a hug or quiet cuddle on the sofa in the library. Rose had always been partial to the cuddles and River, well, she usually wanted to cuddle after she reaffirmed that they were indeed alive and safe. Mentally shaking the ghosts of his guilt away, the Doctor carried the tea tray to the library.

Felicity was standing in front of the shelf closest to the fire, and when she turned, those sea-green eyes that had once looked over a pile of textbooks at him made his breath catch again. She looked so small, in her oversized black Torchwood tshirt, and her red plaid pajama pants. She had let her hair down, and her face was divested of the rather mature makeup she had worn. It struck him again just how young she was, how he had sworn an oath to Jack to keep her safe. He had named her his granddaughter, and though he had not had a child around him in some time, this was his responsibility. “I wasn’t sure how you took your tea.” He sat the tray down on the coffee table in front of the sofa.

“Honey and milk.” Felicity tugged at the sleeves that hung over her hands, and she came over to the sofa and sat down. She began fixing her tea, not meeting his eyes, and he realized that she did think she was in trouble.

“I’m not your dad, or your grandad, but you are my responsibility.” The Doctor mixed his own cup as he settled next to her. “But there are some things you have to understand, because of what we are.”

“It was just a kiss.” Her voice was soft and she finally met his eyes. “I, just, he didn’t think I was weird or a freak. He thought I was special.” He couldn’t stop the chuckle that came out as she stopped mid-sentence. “Wow, I sound just like a naive and stupid teenage girl.”

“You are a teenage girl, my little Time Tot.” The Doctor reached over to tug one of her damp pink curls. “And I’m sure your dad gave you the birds and the bees talk already.” She nodded, those cheeks flushing pink as she choked on her tea. “Well, there’s something he left out, because he couldn’t have known. Something you need to keep in mind, for when the time comes and you decide that you are, in fact, ready.”

The Doctor wondered if his own professors had felt as uncomfortable discussing this as he did. “When Time Lords or Lady’s, engage, in well that.” He gestured in general to the air to indicate what that was. “Because we are telepathic, we run a risk of forging a permanent mental bond with the person. The stronger the emotions, the greater the risk. If the other individual is telepathic, even in the smallest degree, it quadruples the risk.”

“Oh.” Felicity stared down at her mug and sighed. “Well, no risk there, because I don’t plan on ever-“

“Never turn down the opportunity for love.” The Doctor needed to nip that in the bud right then. He had once thought that way, especially after the Time War. “Love, well, love is a promise. It’s the greatest promise anyone can make, and it is worth it. Even if, even if you lose it.” He closed his eyes and swallowed. “I learned that lesson the hard way.”

“Because you lost Aunt Rose or because you lost your wife?” Her words weren’t cruel, but the truth in them hurt more than she could understand. Jack had told her perhaps a little too much.

“Never mind how I know.” The Doctor set his mug down and sighed. “Moving on, I want you to learn Gallifreyan. It’s hard to master, but will come in handy for us to be able to speak in a way the TARDIS or any computer system won’t translate.” He crossed to the shelves next to the fireplace, and found one of Susan’s childhood introductory text books. It had the circular Gallifreyan letters, as well as the pronunciation. The TARDIS had also seen fit to provide Susan’s old handwritten notes on how they translated to English, when she had lived on Earth. “Here.” He handed her the book and forced himself to smile. “Study that, and I can teach you how to actually pilot the TARDIS.”

“Thanks.” Felicity set her mug down. The Doctor felt a bit unsure of what was going through her head. Then he spotted her mobile perched on the table.

“Oh!” He snatched it up and pulled out the sonic. “I forgot, if you’re gonna keep in touch with Jack.” He popped the back off and began sonicking the circuitry. Then he powered it up. “Ta da! Full access anywhere we go in time and space. Tricks only ever been out of signal once, and that planet got swallowed by a black hole.” He tossed it to her and was rewarded with a wide smile as the sound of text notifications began dinging.

“Oh! Doctor Thank you!” She leaped off the sofa and enveloped him in a hug. The Doctor tried not to wince, as he was a bit sore from the explosion and tackling the Queen. So he awkwardly patted her back. “D’ya mind if I go call my dad? He’s worried.”

“Go on, and take a kip while you’re at it. You look dead on your feet.” He managed to pry her arms from around him and watched as she scooped up her book to hurry out of the room. Sighing to himself, he gathered up their tea things. He needed a quick nap himself, as he realized he hadn’t slept since he left Darillium three weeks before. “And I’m going to need all the patience and energy I can muster to handle someone raised by that lot.” The TARDIS giggled in agreement in his thoughts, and he was glad that she was there to help.

Felicity, on the other hand, was a bit too wired to sleep. The Doctor had given her a lot to ponder. She paced the lush green carpet of her room, admiring how it felt like fresh, soft moss under her bare toes. The TARDIS had gifted her the perfect room, and she knew it had been the TARDIS. When she picked the first bedroom she found, it had been bare except a cot fastened to the wall.

Now it was a replica of a forest meadow. Realistic trees expanded from the wall and floor, and their leaves rustled overhead. Through the branches, she could see the early twilight sky, purples and pink, with stars slowly blinking into existence. Holographic animals ran through the grass carpet or flew overhead, and though she knew they were fake, she squeaked when she thought she stepped on a tiny fox pup. The cot had been replaced with a bed that looked like it was made from tree roots, but the mattress was the most comfortable thing she’d ever felt. It was covered in pastel sheets with a thick black and yellow comforter and a gazillion pillows.

Steeling herself, she first texted her dad a picture of her standing next to her desk, asking along with it if he was awake. Her phone rang almost instantly. “Hey Daddy!”

“Hey Princess! I was wondering when the Doctor would upgrade your mobile.” Her dad sounded like he just woke up. “It’s been a week.”

“Only a day for me.” Felicity bit her lip. She wondered if he could hear the uncertainty in her voice.

“Uh oh. What happened? Daleks, cyberman, planetary civil war?” She heard him yawn.

“Anarchist rebellion fueled terrorist attack at the birthday gala of a crown prince.” She admitted, moving to flop down on her bed.

“What planet?” Felicity heard the sound of him padding down the stairs and begin to rummage in the kitchen.

“Anadria, during the fourth Dynasty.” Felicity toyed with one of the smaller pillows, until she realized it was Squish. Grinning, she pulled her battered stuffed animal closer. “I was Prince Haul’s lady for the gala.”

“Anadria, hmmm, never been but I’ve met one before. Silver skin and translucent hair?” Felicity hummed in acknowledgment. “Emotional telepaths, wait! Did you say you were the prince’s date? Did you get any pictures?”

“Phone was in a bag, sorry, besides the dress didn’t last long. There was an explosion, and then I had to beat some assassins arse’s, save the prince’s life. Then he saved mine, and there was running, and i had to cut my dress.” She took a moment to breathe before adding. “Then we kissed, and the Doctor made us leave.”

“You kissed a prince, and the Doctor caught you?” Her dad gave a low whistle, and she groaned. “Well, I can’t get onto you for that, because I’m assuming the Doctor already gave you and earful.”

“Not really, just some warning about how sex is different for me because of the whole Time Lady thing.” Sex talk was something Felicity wasn’t totally uncomfortable discussing with her dad. It was one of the many things that had been an honest discussion in their household.

“I see. So, despite the explosions and nearly dying, the gala went about how your first dance should have gone. I’m glad.” There was a lull in the conversation for a moment before her dad spoke again. “Sweetie, I will give you a piece of advice with the Doctor. Do what he says. He will never, ever put your life at risk. He always has a plan, always. I trusted him with my life, and I trust him with yours.”

“I trust him Daddy.” Felicity rolled onto her back to stare up at the now dark leaves. “And I want you to know that I love you. I had to go, because just being near him makes me feel like I’m not alone. Not that I was alone at home, but in my mind. It doesn’t feel like a piece of me is missing anymore.”

“I love you too, Princess. You sound exhausted. Get some sleep, and tell the Doctor Sarah Jane says he better bring you round for your birthday tea.”

“I will Daddy. Talk to you soon.” Felicity sighed and fought back a yawn. “G’night.”

“Sweet dreams, Felicity.” She could hear the tinge of sadness in his voice as she ended the call.

She fumbled for her charger, which was draped over the side table where she had put it earlier, and eyeballed the red communicator Haul had sent her. To her surprise, there was a light blinking. She picked it up and tapped the screen.

**Lady Lissi, I hope you get this message before you and your grandfather rush into another adventure. I just wanted to say that dancing with you and our farewell was in fact the best gift I received.**

It took her a moment to figure out how to respond, and she breathed a sigh of relief when the TARDIS translated the strange keypad into English.

 **I hope your mother recovers well. I’m not sure when you’ll get this message, as our ship is also a time machine. This could come years later for all I know**.

It only took a moment for a reply to come, and she giggled into her hand.

**Three hours after I sent that one. How long has it been since you left?**

**About that long. I’m actually headed to bed.**

**Sleep well, my Lady. I hope our paths cross again soon. My mother sends her regards.**

Feeling unexplainably happy, Felicity set the device aside, pulled her blankets over her feet, and snuggled into her pillows. She felt the TARDIS brush her barriers, and she let her in. A wordless lullaby filled her mind, and she drifted off to dreams of a dazzling smile and golden eyes.

 

 

 


	12. Not-Chips, Sushi, and explanations

Felicity had been with the Doctor for three months, and they were the best three months of her life. She never got used to how it felt stepping onto a far away planet or space station, the newness, the thrall that it brought her. She reveled in the thrill of the excitement. She was alive. Everything was a learning experience to her, and her mind was hungry for the knowledge that she acquired as she went.

When they weren’t wandering a marketplace for parts, running from danger, or helping out a budding civilization, Felicity was spending her time learning the complex Gallifreyan language or learning how to pilot and repair the TARDIS. She was already conversational in the musical tongue, becoming at least efficient in reading it, nut writing it was the hardest. No matter how hard she tried, she just couldn’t get the circles perfect.

There had only been one awkward moment, a week or so in, something that had resorted to six hours of silence of purposefully avoiding each other. She had been up, around two thirty in the morning TARDIS time, making herself a snack when the Doctor walked into the galley. He had reached over her to grab the container of sugar, when he froze and sniffed her hair. “Go to the infirmary when you’re done.” Then he had disappeared.

She had found him inside, a syringe and blood tube in hand, and she wordlessly consented to the draw. He sent her away to study, but when she returned to her bedroom to change for whatever adventure was in store for the day, she found a bottle of small white tablets and instructions to take them by mouth once daily. Logging into the computer system at her desk, she researched the ingredients he had listed and found they were used for types of birth control. She found that odd, because she had never had a cycle before and assumed it was because Time Lords were sterile. After all, she had only be born from some pretty gruesome combination of Looming and in vitro fertilization. She took the pills as directed anyways. They didn’t discuss it, but every thirty days she found the bottle refilled on her ensuite counter. He also didn’t ask when she requested a quick pop back to Earth to visit the store.

The one thing she did keep secret from not only the Doctor, but her dad as well, was that she talked almost daily with Haul. Nothing inappropriate or even hinting at a relationship was ever mentioned, but hearing his voice or seeing his comments to pictures she took of her adventures just made her happy. The warm content feeling he gave her was not the same as the uncertain spark she had basically forced herself to feel for Branson, and she realized that she was in fact feeling her first ever crush on someone.

It was Haul she was thinking of, when she paused at a shop window to admire a sleek silver cloak. The Doctor was across the street bartering with a merchant for a part. Felicity pushed her sleeve back to fiddle with the red band around her wrist. She had taken to wearing it, enjoying the slight weight on her skin. She had researched it, to make sure there was no underlying meaning, and only found that it signified being under the protection of the Royal family.

“Such a pretty trinket.” A slick sounding voice made Felicity turn. There was a human man there, in a plain black shirt and brown pants, smiling sincerely as he gestured. Everything in her body told her he was a threat. “May I see it?” He grabbed for her arm, but she blocked his hand, grabbed his wrist, and spun forcing his arm back and up his back.

“You can see this.” Felicity shoved his face into the glass window and watched as he fell to the ground. She chose a select few choice insults in Gallifreyan and spat them at him.

“Language, Felicity.” The Doctor had hurried over, along with a few bystanders. “What happened?”

“He learned that not all sweet looking little girls are easy targets.” Felicity wiped her hands on her pants and glowered at the would be thief. “Finding a better career choice than mugging people, yeah.” She nudged the man with her foot before turning away.

“I see despite leaving Torchwood, Jack kept you up to par with self defense.” The Doctor took her arm and steered her away. She knew he wasn’t much for violence, but she knew she wasn’t in trouble either.

“Actually, Aunt Martha taught me that. Dad and Mickey were more about teaching me weapons.” She looped her arm through his and grinned. “Don’t worry, I left all my guns at home.”

“Guns are no longer allowed on the TARDIS.” The Doctor shivered, and, as if forgetting himself, he went on. “Before Mels regenerated into Melody, she once shot the TARDIS. Guns were banned from then on out.”

“Wait, River was a Time Lady?” Felicity was in shocked. The Doctor often dropped the names of his former companions, but had never really expanded on them.

“No, not exactly.” His face pulled into the frown he always wore when he spoke of the ones he felt the most guilt over, and she knew it was guilt. It radiated out of him like the tendrils of dark matter, chilling his already cool skin. “Look, chips! Well, they aren’t really chips, and sushi! Come on, you have to try Mortulian Sushi.” The Doctor began tugging her along to an outdoor eating area.

“I hate sushi.” Felicity pulled him to a stop. “Doctor, wait. Talk to me.” He slowed his steps and drew in a heavy sigh. “You’ve told me all about the Time War, about what happened to my Dad and my biological parents, how you left Aunt Sarah Jane behind.” She moved her hand to his shoulder and forced him to turn those steel blue eyes to her. “But you never talk about the other ones. You told me to not push away love, but yet you can’t even bear to speak about the people you loved. How can I know how to handle it all, if you don’t tell me?”

His entire face fell, and he reached up to cover her hand. Then, the smallest ghost of a smile crossed his lips. “Sometimes I forget I can’t hide things from you. So I’ll make you a deal.” He squeezed her fingers softly before pulling her hand down to clasp it between them. “You try the sushi and tell me why you’re wearing that bracelet, and I’ll tell you about one of them. Your choice.”

Felicity pondered for a moment, then she went up on her toes to press a granddaughterly kiss to his cheek. “Deal.” She giggled as he rushed her along to the shop and placed the order. Soon they were seated at a table overlooking the sprawling market.

“Try this one first.” He held out a purple and yellow roll, and she took it from him. Steeling herself, because she really did hate sushi, she took a bite. It wasn’t disgusting, but it was definitely an acquired taste. “So, the bracelet.” He reached over to tap the metal band.

Felicity felt her cheeks flush as she swallowed and looked down at it. “Prince Haul gave it to me, as a parting gift.” She held it up to let the suns overhead catch it. “I looked it up, it just means I’m a friend of the Royal family.”

“And was that the only gift?” The Doctor popped a blue filet into his mouth. The look on his face told her she’d been found out. He swallowed and arched an eyebrow. “There’s been some subwave messages coming and going through the TARDIS’ communication network. I didn’t read them, but I’m guessing it has something to do with your little boyfriend.”

“He’s not my boyfriend.” Felicity struggled to regulate her body systems, as he’d taught her, but she still felt her face turn as red as the new highlights in her hair. “We’re just friends.”

“That blush says otherwise.” He waved what looked like a purple tentacle at her face. “He’s too old for you.” There was a hint of protectiveness in his voice, not jealousy or anger, just an edged worry.

“Says the man who fell in love with a nineteen year old human when he was nine hundred.” She hadn’t meant it as a retort, but it came out heavy with sarcasm. “Doctor, I’m sorry. I didn’t mean.” His jaw had clenched and his eyebrows had furrowed. “That was rude of me.”

“I l-.” His voice caught as he stared down at their tray. “I gave Rose the best future I could offer her, because I knew it wouldn’t work out. She was human, and I’m a Time Lord. I knew better than to delude myself into thinking it could have been happy any other way.”

“Well, Doctor, what about me then?” She felt suddenly as old as he was. Her dad and the Doctor had encouraged her to live her life, to try to experience love, but how could she with anyone except a species that lived longer than eighty or so years. “How can you tell me that love is worth it when you wallow in the guilt of what you lost, and in the same breath chastise me for even trying to make a friend.”

“Because I didn’t lose them.” The Doctor dropped his face to his hands and pulled at his hair. “You, bloody hell Felicity, you’re young, and innocent, and sweet. I didn’t lose them, okay, I screwed them up. Every single time, I buggered it up.” He dropped his hands to the table and met her eyes. “I just, I don’t want you to ever feel the hurt I’ve had to.” His hand inched across the wood, and she instinctively took it, feeling her touch ease the broiling storm of his emotions. “I don’t want you to ever feel even an ounce of what I’ve had to carry on my own all these years.”

“Doctor.” Felicity squeezed his fingers, feeling tears begin to well at the utter defeat and sincerity in his voice. “You aren’t alone anymore. I have twelve lifetimes to spend keeping you company, and I will. I promise that you’ll never, ever be alone again.” She sniffled hard, getting off of her bench to come around and sit next to him. She wrapped her arms around him, even though she knew how much he hated hugs. “I’m your godchild.” She whispered in Gallifreyan, and the words made his arms come around her softly. “We’re family, so you better get used to it.”

“Oh, Lissi.” The Doctor smoothed her hair, just like her dad had done a thousand times. “One day, you’ll understand.”

“Can’t understand if you don’t let me at least make a few mistakes.” She smiled up at him before turning and grabbing a bite of sushi. “Like eating this. Blech.” She grabbed a napkin and spit it out.

“Obviously the human part of you doesn’t recognize superior cuisine.” The Doctor laughed and elbowed her away. “Go get your not chips and I’ll eat this.”

Felicity hurried inside to place her order, and as she waited she pulled out her communicator. She bit her lip and hesitated before typing.

**Is it silly that I miss you?**

She didn’t get an immediate response, but as she was about to slip it back in her jacket pocket it gave a beep.

 **If it is then, I must be twice as silly for waking up four hours before dawn to tell you that I miss you too**.

Felicity didn’t bother fighting back the smile. If this was a mistake, then it couldn’t be a worse one than Branson. Nothing could be worse than that.

**Go back to sleep, Prince. I’m sure you need it.**

**Exhaustion is worth knowing that you’re alive and well, my sweet Lady**.

Her order was up, and she tucked the message away to respond to later. She rejoined the Doctor, who was now tossing building some sort of sushi monster on his tray.   
  
“How’s the not boyfriend?” He didn’t even look up from his masterpiece.

“How did you know? I was shielding?!” Felicity double checked to make sure all of her barriers were deadlocked.

“Your hearts rates are elevated, and you’re oozing all those teenage human pheromones.” He snagged one of her not chips before she could stop him. “So long as you aren’t stealing the TARDIS for midnight trysts, I won’t tell Jack.”

“I can’t steal the TARDIS if you don’t teach me how to turn off the stasis breaks.” She stuck her tongue out as he smirked.

“That’ll be your eightieth birthday present.” He gave her a full smile, and Felicity grinned back. She understood him just a bit better now, and she hoped he’d continue to forgive himself enough to truly let her in.


	13. Harsh Words and Mistakes

“Where the contrafibulator?” The Doctor shouted, leaping over the fallen droid. “Felicity!”

“How should I know?!” Felicity screeched back, ducking behind a desk. “You just said to run! I ran!”

“Seriously?!” He threw his hands up and yelped when a laser singed his sleeves. “You’re not very useful! Remind me, why do I keep you around?”

“My cooking skills and the fact that I tolerate your random mid-flight guitar solos.” Another volley of lasers made them both shout and press themselves flat to the floor. “I’m shorter, I can hide better, and so I’ll go back.” She smirked at him, meeting his excited gaze.

“I’m faster, I’ll go.” The Doctor shook his head, and Felicity groaned inwardly. Speed didn’t matter if he couldn’t keep his arse out of the line of fire.

“Or you can both stay put, and I’ll bring it to you.” Pleora, the niece of the two hundred and second President of the United States threw herself down beside Felicity, the small, black disk clutched in her hands. “Jesus, these guys mean business.”

“There’s a good lass.” The Doctor gestured to her, and the girl slid him the disc. “Okay, Lissi, you get Pleora back to her Aunt, I’ll get this disc into the control panel just ahead, and afterwards we’ll all go for ice cream.”

“You take Pleora, I’ll get the disc in there-“ her sentence was cut short as Pleora yanked a magpulse grenade from her cleavage, pulled the pin, and tossed it into the line of firing droids. As soon as it exploded she was on the move.

“I’m so keeping her!” Felicity yelled over the screeching of the droids, scurrying after the nineteen year old girl.

“No! You’re not!” The Doctor hollered back as they raced to catch up. “Override those controls!”

She threw herself at the line of buttons beside where Pleora was currently inserting the disc and trying every password she could think of. Felicity smashed the protective glass on the emergency override panel with her elbow and went to work. “More rogues incoming!” She warned, seeing the doors begin to melt away with the laser fire.

“I’ve got them!” The Doctor shouted, and from behind her she heard the sonic whining.

“We need a dna confirmation!” Felicity groaned as the final override request flashed before her. “Give me your hand.” She grabbed Pleora’s fingers and jabbed a shard of glass into her thumb.

“Why? Ouch!” The black eyed girl tried to pull her hand away, but Felicity squeezed until a drop of blood hit the receiver and the computer announced the override worked. The laser fire came to a stop. “How did that work?”

“Your Aunt is the president, I just guessed that it would recognize similar dna and accept.” She flashed Pleora a smile and squeaked as the woman grabbed her by her collar and kissed her. Her breath caught as they broke apart with matching giggles.

“Just like your dad. You can’t keep your lips to yourself.” The Doctor grabbed both of them by the arm and shoved them into the hall. She knew he was teasing, but Pleora’s caramel cheeks flushed in embarrassment.

“He’ll be so proud!” Felicity teased, as they took a sharp corner to the President’s office on the ship. The woman was still strapped into the chair, wires running from her head, but the command droid was now standing harmless. “Okay, Ms. President, let’s get you out of here.”

She slowly began unhooking the wires while Pleora removed the cuffs holding her aunt to the chair. “You two do this a lot?”

“Save the Earth or drive each other crazy.” She glanced over at the Doctor who was completely ripping out the wires for the droid. Gingerly, she loosened the headpiece over the President’s hair and set it on the desk.

“Both.” Pleora made a comforting noise as her aunt began to stir.

Felicity shrugged as she picked up a heavy metal paperweight and smashed the headpiece to bits. “Family business.”

“She’s gonna have a nasty headache, but all in all she’ll recover.” The Doctor ran the sonic over the president’s face and blinked at the readings. “Well, we best be off. Lovely meeting you Pleora, and tell your Aunt that the next time she wants to cut the budget by using untested robots, don’t.”

Felicity chuckled as she brushed her hair out of her face and started to follow the Doctor out of the room.

“Wait! My aunt is going to want to know who saved her. You’ll probably get some medal or something.”

“We don’t do the whole rewards or honoring thing.” She shoved her hands into her coat pocket and bumped the Doctor’s arm with her shoulder. “It was nice meeting you!”

Without waiting for a response they both shouldered past the secret service team rushing in and made a beeline for the TARDIS. Once they were parked in the vortex, the Doctor gave a fierce yawn. “Well, that’s two hostile invasions, a malfunctioning weather modifier, and a small army of rogue assassination droids in three days. I’m gonna take a nap.”

Felicity laughed as she rubbed her elbow where it was beginning to bruise. “You do that. I’m gonna go explore that hallway of workshops I found last week.” The Doctor nodded and ruffled her hair as he passed. She knew he had been awake going on four weeks, so she didn’t tease him about being an old man.

Humming to herself, she started towards her intended destination, but the hallway didn’t look right. She could have sworn that this was the way she had come, the fourth hallway on the left past the Zero Room, but the sleek metal doors were gone. This one had a mix of different doors, some wood, some metal, and even one that looked like stone. Each bore an emblem or a plaque. Their knobs or handles were thick with dust, which was odd as the TARDIS normally kept everything clean.

“Arkytior.” She paused to read the circular Gallifreyan word aloud. Underneath it was a name in English. “Susan. Holy time lines, these are their rooms.” The TARDIS’ lights flickered as she hummed in confirmation. “Why did you bring me in here?” Felicity walked the hall. Barbara, Ian, Jo, Ace, Sarah Jane, Rose, Jack, Mickey, Martha, Donna, the rooms all were locked. Felicity could feel the sadness, the loneliness that echoed down the hallway, almost taste the grief that the TARDIS whimpered into her mind.

The last door on the left was not yet dusty, and instead of a plaque it held a green and gold embroidered leaf or star looking thing. The writing shifted as the TARDIS’ translation matrix kicked in. It was River’s room. “Hang on, if they were married, why did she have her own room?” Felicity touched the handle and was surprised when the door slid open.

It wasn’t a bedroom, as she expected, it was a study of some sort. As she stepped in, the lamps lining the tables, desks, and walls began to glow a warm yellow light. Felicity gasped as she took in her surroundings. There were artifacts scattered around, a classic archaeologist’s outfit tossed over a chaise lounge, but what got her attention were the pictures. They were all of the same woman, but each one was of a different man. Then, with a jolt of shock, Felicity realized the man was the Doctor. River had a picture of herself with every regeneration except the pinstripe suit one. The ones with the bowtied Doctor and the Doctor she knew now were smiling and obviously showing the romance between them. A second look made her gasp out loud. It was the woman she had mistaken for a time agent almost four years before. There was no mistaking the curly hair or blaster on her hip.

Something on the main desk caught her eye, and Felicity edged forward. What she had thought was a simple leather bracer was actually a vortex manipulator. She knew what it was, having seen the ones in her dad’s pictures. She picked it up, and nearly dropped it as she saw the same marking as her dad’s etched onto the cover-flap. “This was my dad’s” she ran her fingers along the worn strap before tucking it into her pocket. “I wonder how she got it.”

The TARDIS hummed a warning that told her she needed to get out. Knowing better than to question the ship, she ducked out of the office and headed down a hallway to the right. Once she was back in the main corridor she bolted her her room. She found another surprise waiting for her there, a thin neon pink package wrapped a neon green bow. Leaning against it was a folded piece of paper. Felicity picked it up as she sat on her comforter. She opened the letter, finding perfect circular Gallifreyan on the page.

**Felicity,  
We’ve been so busy that you forgot your birthday was today. I’m assuming you forgot as you didn’t ask to go visit your dad. Coincidentally, this is also the eighth month to the day since we met. I hope you enjoy your gifts.**

**The Doctor**

Felicity excitedly opened the box and let out a squeal at the contents. Resting inside the box was a slender sonic screwdriver. It was half the size of the Doctor’s but fit perfectly into her palm as she picked it up. She pressed the power button and felt grateful tears well in her eyes as it glowed purple, her favorite color. She glanced back down in the box and pulled out the small folded paper that had been under the sonic. She smoothed it out, confused at what she saw.

It was a picture of young men who looked no older than their mid-twenties standing side by side. They were wearing flowing scarlet and golden robes with high collars. Behind them was a massive set of steps leading up to thick glass doors. The tallest, by just a bit, had blonde hair, clear blue eyes, a carefree, and reckless smile set into a clean shaven face. The other had dark hair, slicked back, sporting a goatee and thin mustache, a mischievous smirk on his face, but when she looked at his eyes, she made the connection. Her own sea-foam green eyes were staring back at her. “The Master” she flipped it over to see if there was an inscription, but it was blank.

Felicity looked back at the picture, which looked more like someone had frozen time versus snapped a quick shot. She could almost feel the breeze stirring their robes. She opened the drawer on the side table and slid the picture and vortex manipulator inside. Then she set the sonic down on her pillow, pulled out her phone, and sent a picture to her dad.

When she didn’t get a response back, she assumed he was asleep and set her phone aside. Staring at the forest bedroom, she sighed. She had slept the night before, in the infirmary after the Doctor had treated her for a head injury, so there was no way she could sleep now and she wasn’t in the mood to study. Felicity grabbed her sonic and decided to do some more exploring.

Wandering through the TARDIS wasn’t e safe nor exactly dangerous, but sometimes it could be disconcerting. Time passed weirdly in the more distant rooms. Felicity had learned that trying to make a mental map was useless, as the ship was constantly rearranging things to keep the most crucial rooms close to her inhabitants. So, she just took the time to peek into new rooms, admiring gardens or sleek astrolabs. This time, as she wandered, the air began to feel weird. Her time sense became fuzzy, and her head felt light and dizzy. She came to a hulking metal door in a barren corridor, and leaned hard against it.

“I need to go back, girl.” She patted the wall, but the usual soft hum in her mind was louder than usual, a bit more wild and feral. No new doors or exits appeared. Felicity grasped the handle of the door she was leaning on and twisted. It swung open and time seemed to stand still. She could feel it literally slowing down to a state of total stasis. Nausea ripped through her, and she fell to her knees. Her eyes felt heavy as her breathing grew labored. Her respiratory bypass was having problems kicking in. Her vision grew dark as she felt too weighted down to panic, and then suddenly everything was moving again.

Wake up! The sharp, frantic feminine voice pierced her brain. She realized it was the first time she had ever heard the TARDIS form actual words. She was laying on the floor of the console room, feeling as though she had been thrown through a wall. Her head was pounding and she felt like she’d been asleep for a century.

“What happened?” She rolled onto her stomach and pushed herself to her feet. She leaned on the console, feeling her balance and other functions return to normal. She drew in a breath as her hands and legs stopped shaking. In just a matter of moments, it felt like nothing weird had happened.

“Where the hell have you been?” The Doctor blew into the room and grabbed her by her shoulders. “I’ve been looking for you for fourteen hours!”

“I don’t know.” Felicity blinked at him, seeing and feeling that he was both worried and furious. “I was in this hall, and time started to feel weird. There was no way out so I tried to go in this door, but then I passed out.”

The Doctor took a deep sniff and his eyes brows narrowed. “How many times have I told you?! The one place you are not allowed to go is the Eye of Harmony room! You could have died!” He released her shoulders to turn away and lean over the console. “Now wonder the TARDIS is so exhausted she couldn’t speak. Do you have any idea how much energy it takes for her to move an unconscious person to the console room without the emergency protocols being activated?!”

Felicity opened her mouth to speak, but he held up a hand. “You said you were going to visit the workshops, but instead you wander around the archive wing and then into the most dangerous place inside this ship! How many times have I told you not to wander when she is asleep?! Are you stupid or were you just trying to be a nuisance?”

“Doctor! It was an accident!” Felicity felt indignation and anger rising in her chest. “I didn’t mean to almost die! I didn’t even intend to go there. I got lost!” She clenched her fists, trying to control the anger broiling in her veins. “And I’m not stupid!”

“Just go to your room and don’t leave it until I tell you!” He slammed his hand on the controls, his eyes flashing. “Now!”

“You aren’t my dad! Stop treating me like a child!” She yelled, feeling very much like she wanted to slap him. “I’m seventeen not seven!”

“You’re an infant by Time Lord standards!” His voice wasn’t raised. It was deathly calm. “And as long as you live on this ship, you abide by my rules. Now unless you want me to take you to Earth permanently, go there until I fix the TARDIS!”

Felicity choked back the hot tears in her throat. She spun on her heel and fled down the corridor to her room. “What is his problem?! It was an accident!” She kicked at the grass carpet and refrained from punching the wall like she yearned to do. She didn’t want to leave, but she did want to put more space between her and the Doctor.

She grabbed her newly acquired vortex manipulator and sat down at her computer. She understood how it worked, input time and location base codes and she would be gone in a flash. Felicity thought about her dad, and was about to log into the TARDIS coordinates database when a ding from her communicator made her freeze. She grabbed it.

I wish I could see you. I’m starting to forget how your smile looks besides pictures.

An idea popped to her mind, and she grinned. Felicity knew that if she went home, it’s the first place the Doctor would go. Undoubtedly because her dad would call him. She needed time to breathe, to have someone not be angry with her, someone who simply wanted to see her and wouldn’t pry. She snagged her cellphone, shoved it into her pocket, then pulled up the coordinates for the palace courtyards eight months after they visited. Drawing a breath, she strapped on the leather band, typed in her destination and pressed the button.

Time and spaced lurched around her, making her feel as if her skin was electrified. Everything felt too tight, too hot, and before she could breathe she tumbled onto soft grass. Her mouth tasted heavy with artron energy, and she spat as three gardeners gave a shout.

“Don’t move!” Haul’s voice made her look up, and she found him running towards her, sword in hand, surrounded by guards. “Felicity?” He skidded, very un-royaly, to a stop and sheathed his sword. “By the stars. It is you.” He bent down and pulled her to her feet.

“You said something about needing to see my smile.” She offered timidly, trying to let the time sickness wash away. She bit her lower lip, hoping that she hadn’t made him uncomfortable by coming, but then he smiled and laughed. The warmth and surprised happiness in it made her anger fade away. She threw herself into his arms and breathed deeply, wondering how she had forgotten just how he had made her feel so giddy.

“You’ve been crying.” Haul squeezed her gently and whispered in her ear. “Come inside and let me get you some wine and food.” He pulled back to take her hand. Felicity wiped her eyes of the tears that were threatening to spill over again. She knew she would be in trouble for this too, but right now she wanted nothing more than to eat and spend time with someone who wasn’t going to order her around. “Come along, my Lissi, tell me why you have come to me in such a state.” She nodded and let his warm hands lead her across the garden to the palace.

 

 


	14. The Mistress of Guilt

Felicity hummed as she collapsed back onto the soft blanket and watched the pink clouds pass overhead. She had been expecting a small snack, but as soon as she mentioned it was her birthday, Haul had rounded up an entire picnic, a bottle of her favorite wine from the gala, and they had ridden into the forest behind the palace on an animal that looked like a cross between a horse and an antelope. He had spread the luxurious blanket onto the grass by a glistening purple lake, and there she had explained what had happened.

“Open.” A gold looking fruit the size of a raspberry appeared over her face, and she did as she was told. He dropped it into her mouth before stroking her cheek with a finger. “Perhaps the Doctor was angry with himself, for not knowing where you were, not truly at you.”

“Well, he’ll be angry when he finds out I ran off.” She turned her head to look at him. He was on one elbow while his other hand was busy working another piece of fruit loose.

“Does he know where you went?” He popped the fruit into his mouth before refilling their glasses.

“No, but it won’t take him long to figure it out.” She pushed herself up enough to take the glass and sip, wishing that the alcohol had some effect on her. She could use a little courage. Now that she was with him again, she felt suddenly nervous and unsure. She was still wearing her jacket, jeans, tshirt, and sneakers. It wasn’t exactly the best ensemble to have a picnic lunch with a prince.

“Well, until he does, you are more than welcome to stay here with me.” He set his wine glass aside and reached out to touch her face. She felt her cheeks flush at the caress, and she set her own wine aside. “You turn the most lovely colors when you blush.” He straightened more, shifting closer so he could rest his whole palm against her cheek. “And your skin is so cool and soft, like wine spilled over silk.”

Felicity closed her eyes, basking in the warmth of his skin and the contentment rolling off of him like the waves of the lake nearby. She didn’t flinch or pull sway when their lips touched, and she sighed as his other hand tangled into her hair. The worried guilt she had been harboring at her angry escape melted away, and she shifted closer to him, losing herself to the way he tasted. She needed something more, and she wasn’t sure what it was until she felt her fingers brush his temples. “Wait.” She pulled away, gasping as she had stopped herself from giving reflexively into the need to connect with his thoughts.

“My apologies, my Lady.” Haul’s silver cheeks and lips were as darkened as hers felt, only in a rich coal color. “I thought that you wanted me to kiss you. I felt your emotions were implying-“ His hands pulled back, but she grabbed them.

“I do, but I almost made a very rude mistake.” She squeezed his fingers softly, trying to figure out how to explain. It wasn’t as if she had ever had to explain this to anyone. “I, well, my people are telepaths, the Time Lords that is. I almost invaded your thoughts.”

“I see.” He brought her hands up to his lips and kissed them softly. “You are nervous to see what’s inside my head, but please.” He raised her fingers to his temples and pressed them into the soft, silver skin. “See what I am thinking, what I have been thinking since those wine colored cheeks stumbled into my life.”

Felicity hesitated. She had never intentionally gone into someone’s thoughts before. It had always been accidental, and even with the Doctor it was never more than surface words or emotions. She swallowed softly and timidly let down her barriers. Letting her consciousness brush his, she gently slipped into the recesses of his mind. She gasped in shock.

The first thing she noticed about the colors and brushes of memories was that he was authentically good. There was nothing hidden from her, no shame about anything he had ever done, and not a single negative impression of her. He found her absolutely beautiful from the moment they met, had marveled at the colors and taste of her wild emotions. He found her bravery in battle and her slight insecurities endearing and entrancing. He had missed her, more than he had wanted to let himself, and though now he was buzzing with wine and they were very much alone, he had no intentions of taking this farther than she desired. “Kiss me.” She breathed.

His lips found hers again, and the sensations were amplified so profoundly that she nearly lost her control. “Your thoughts are like birdsong.” He whispered, suckling her lower lip gently. “I thought it might hurt.” Their tongues met in a hesitant brush, and she felt her hearts begin to race.

“I’d never hurt you.” She slid her hands down his neck, keeping them touching his skin so she wouldn’t lose the connection. Felicity could still see his thoughts, and they were full of her emotions that he was pulling into him with his own touch.

“And I’d never hurt you. You must believe that.” Haul’s words were honest, and the undeniable truth in them made her melt. She eased herself back to the blanket, pulling him along, and relaxed into the moment.

His hands never shifted anywhere that would have been deemed inappropriate, but they did become more confident. She broke away from his breathless lips to taste the skin at his neck.

A fizzling pop drew her back to herself just as a mind as vast and powerful as the Doctor’s engulfed her. Felicity threw her barriers up just as a woman spoke, her accent a twist between London and Scottish “Well isn’t this just romantic? Grab them!”

Before she could move, Haul was grabbed by two Anadrians in purple robes. Felicity grabbed for his sword, which was laying beside the basket, but the woman pointed the umbrella in her hand. With a whir squeal like a sonic, it skittered out of reach. “Now now, little human girl. You try anything stupid, and your boyfriend here is a prince-kabob.” She waved her umbrella. “Stand up slowly, and keep your hands over your head.”

Felicity rose slowly to her feet, keeping her hands in view. She suddenly vehemently wished she had left her vortex manipulator back at the palace like she had her phone and communicator. She was so distracted by the peril they were in that it took a moment for her brain to catch up. This woman was a full blown Time Lady. She had felt that just before she had slammed her barriers into lockdown around her mind. There were only two existing full Time Lords, and one of them was the Doctor. That meant this was. “Missy.” Felicity said the word out loud, watching as her father, well now mother’s eyebrow raised

“Do not speak unless the Goddess addresses you.” One of the purple robed men spoke.

“You! You’re responsible for the attacks!” Haul yanked against the men holding him, and one of them bashed him in the gut.

“Leave him alone, Missy.” Felicity spoke in Gallifreyan. Those eyebrows went higher, and Missy gave a sly smile.

“Cuff her, search her, and bring me that lively leather bundle on her wrist.” One of the purple robed women who had emerged from the woods came over. Knowing better than to resist, or Haul would be beheaded, Felicity held still as they put her in cuffs, unbuckled the vortex manipulator, and pulled her sonic screwdriver out of her jacket pocket. The woman handed the two objects to the smirking Missy. She held them up, her smirk growing broader. “A vortex manipulator, belonging to a certain feisty time traveling archaeologist named River Song, and a sonic screw driver.” Missy gave a wicked giggle and approached Felicity. “My, my, my, my friend has been a busy little boy. No wonder he hasn’t been playing into my games.”

“I have no idea what you’re talking about.” Felicity winced back and turned her eyes away as Missy grabbed her chin and took a deep inhale at her hair. “Hmmm, you smell of the TARDIS and of Time Tot. Didn’t think the old swat had it in him. Where’s your dad and mum then? Hm? They know you’re out here playing kissy face with the Prince?”

Felicity thought about the last place the Doctor had mentioned being with River. “They’re on Darillium. They don’t know I’m here. I ran away to see Haul.”

“Well, I’m sure they’ll come running.” Missy released her chin and pushed it away. “Come along now. I’ve have a war to start. I’ve been quite bored and watching things burn is a wonderful past time.” She snapped at the robed people, and they grabbed Felicity’s arms. There was a fizzling pop, and she felt the world dissolve until the throne room faded into view.

The Queen was tied to the largest throne, her mouth gagged. Missy sashayed to the window that overlooked the distant city, and let out a laugh of delight as an explosion filled the windows. “Oh, my faithful little followers are having such fun!”

“How long do you think until the Doctor figures out where you are?” Haul struggled against the cuffs on his hands as he made eye contact with his mother. The Queen was slowly rotating her hands, her fingers slowly wrapping underneath the arm rest.

“I have no clue. The TARDIS probably told him I left, but I don’t know if he’ll come right away.” Felicity pressed against him so she could mutter even more softly. “I’m about to say something, and it’s the truth. Please, don’t hate me. I had no idea she was behind this. Get to your mum if you can.”

“I would never hate you.” Haul raised an eyebrow at her, looking confused. “I trust you.” Felicity pressed a kiss to his shoulder and drew a breath.

She stepped forward, speaking in Gallifreyan first. “I lied.” Missy whirled around, mouth open as if to speak. “The Doctor isn’t my father and River Song is not my mother.” She glanced at Haul. “And he isn’t my grandfather. I’m his.” She uttered the Gallifreyan word. “The child of his kin who is not of his Loom. My mother’s name was Lucy Cole-Saxon, and my father was the Master. Missy, I’m your child.”

“You’ve got a sense of humor!” Missy laughed, tossing her head back. “I think I’d know if my own daughter was standing right in front of me.”

“Not if she was trained to block her mental signature.” Felicity finally met Missy’s eyes, holding them. “Look at me, tell me I’m not.” Her hearts pounded as Missy truly looked at her. The sarcastic smirk faded into a open mouth gape of shock. “Hello, Dad.” Felicity forced her nerves away, hoping that the sarcasm would be enough to keep her distracted. “Or should I call you mum now?”

She moved slowly toward Missy, keeping their eyes locked. She fought to keep her thoughts in order, as coming face to face with the person completely responsible for her existence. Felicity had thought she hated the Master, but now she just pitied her. They walked around each other, not speaking, just letting their barriers lower enough to brush consciousness. Missy wasn’t demanding entry, she was looking for a telepathic validity. “Show me.”

Felicity held out the hands bound in front of her, touching Missy’s fingers. She offered up a single memory, a conversation in a jail cell on this very planet.

_I knew, as soon as I felt your mind, whose child you were._

_That’s why you told Dad I should have been your responsibility, because the Master was your friend?_

She let the memory fade as she pulled her fingers back. “Now do you believe me? She stepped back, keeping Missy’s gaze so she wouldn’t see Haul reach the throne and press the underside of the arm rest.

“What.” Missy’s face was a storm of emotions, denial, rejection, acceptance, and what Felicity thought might be approval. “What did they name you? I thought of many names during my experiments. The one I liked the most was Acantha, it means thorn.”

“Felicity Seren.” She held out her hands. “Let me go, and we can talk. I promise I won’t fight you or run away.” She hoped that Missy would listen, because through a tenuous connection she felt Haul growing anxious.

“Well you aren’t that lucky, my little star.” She snapped her fingers and pushed Felicity aside. “You let him sound the alarms, you imbeciles!” She shrieked. “Kill him and the Queen!”

“No!” Felicity threw herself at the nearest guard, who was pulling out a blaster.

“Seize them!” A dark skin man bellowed, and Felicity looked up as a group of dark robed men came rushing in, armed with staffs that sparkled electricity. They took out the purple robed followers, and made it to the throne to release Queen Calla and Haul.

“Execute her, now! Before she can teleport!” The Queen surged to her feet, one long finger extended.

Felicity scrambled unsteadily to her feet. She saw what would happen before anyone moved, and she reacted. One of the dark robed guards fired a blaster. She wasn’t sure what drove her to do it, but she didn’t regret it. Missy was her parent and, in some twisted way she didn’t understand, the Doctor’s best friend. “No! Don’t kill her!” She shouted the word before the blaster bolt hit her in her chest. She felt herself crash back into Missy, who caught her in her arms.

Almost instantly, she began to feel it, deep under her skin tiny supernovas began. She felt herself beginning to burn, the energy washing out. Felicity lifted her hands watching as the gold dust glowed as more excruciating explosions began in her fingers. She saw the horror on the Queens face, and the grief and despair in Haul’s. “I’m fine.” She groaned, forcing her legs to bear the weight of her agony, and gave him a smile. “I’ll be okay.” She gasped as Missy stepped back, her eyes wide in shock. She became vaguely aware that her hair was shortening and she was growing taller, then a new pain shot through her neck and the supernovas stopped.

Felicity didn’t feel herself hit the floor, only when Missy screamed and caught her did she even know she was falling. Something warm began trickling into her hair, the only place she felt anything, and she saw a dagger coated in reddish orange blood in front of her. She tried to speak, but her respiratory system seemed to not be functioning.

Haul was suddenly on his knees, holding her face, kissing her frantically. “No, please. No.”

Felicity felt her world growing dark, and that’s when her mind made the connection. She was dying. Her regeneration had been interrupted by a dagger to the brain stems. Missy’s face came back into view, those eyes panicked and full of pain. “No, I’m sorry.”

Felicity willed her eyes ti stay open and mustered all the strength she had left in her respiratory bypass system. “I.. love.. you... both.” Then, she knew no more.

The Mistress stared at the dead girl on the floor, the one who was staring blankly back at her with the eyes that she had been born with. Her blonde hair with bold highlights was half black, and her fair skin had already been turning a stunning caramel. “You!” She glared at her own disposable pawn that had used the dagger. “You killed my daughter.” With a shout of rage, she grabbed the dagger from the floor and threw it. The blade stuck in the man’s throat with a satisfying squelch, and she watched as he fell too the floor, his yellow blood gurgling out.

Cuffs were suddenly around her hands, a gag in her throat, and her ankles were shackled. The dark robed guard, who could only belong to those pompous and self righteous Shadow Proclamation, pulled her head back by her hair. “The Mistress, Formerly known as the Master. You are hearby placed under arrest for violating ever article and clause of the Shadow Proclamation. You are to be taken into custody, until a time that we can locate the Time Lord known as the Doctor, so that he may carry out the execution and carry the thousand year vigil, as is customary of your home planet Gallifrey. Do you understand?”

Missy nodded, her rage and anguish melting away to a sensation she had never experienced before. She saw her daughter’s body, lifeless before her, the scarlet and orange tinted blood staining the silver ivory floor, and suddenly nothing else in the universe seemed to matter. Her daughter had known her for only a few brief moments, and yet, had willingly sacrificed herself to save her life.

The Prince’s golden eyes, now ringed black and gushing yellow tears met hers. She tried to tell him without speaking to call the Doctor. If he understood, he didn’t respond. He simply pulled Felicity’s limp body onto his lap and pressed his lips to her forehead, as his mother descended from the throne to kneel beside him.

Missy stood silently, not bothering to protest. This was her fault. Felicity’s death was her fault. She had never admitted that fact about anything, and the sickening clench in her chest made her normally sarcastic and bitter mind a confused jumble. She needed to talk to the Doctor, he would know what this was. She stared back over her shoulder as she let herself be escorted, unable to tear her eyes away from her little girl, until the guards closed the throne room doors behind her.

 


	15. Vows Made and Vows Broken

The TARDIS had told the Doctor the instant Felicity had left. He watched the replay on the security camera footage, frowning as she strapped on the vortex manipulator she had obviously nicked from River’s office. “I’ll give her an hour or so, then call Jack.” He went back to work, making repairs on the energy circuits that had blown in the TARDIS’ effort to save her little Time Tot. Once it was complete, he reached for the phone on the console and dialed Jack’s number.

“Heya Doc.” Jack answered, sounding like he was in traffic or maybe a store, it was too loud to tell. “Nice Screwdriver you gave Lissi. I’m jealous, you never gave me one.”

“Yeah well, I like her better. She there?” He reached over with one hand to begin plotting coordinates.

“No. I tried calling her about the picture she sent, to tell her Happy Birthday, but she didn’t answer.” The Doctor’s heart dropped. “Wait, why would she be here. She knows Sarah Jane and I are going to visit Luke for his uni graduation tomorrow”

“We had a fight, and she had River’s vortex manipulator. She took off after I sent her to her room.” The Doctor cancelled the coordinates. “Any Idea where she might be?”

“No, she’s traveling with you Doctor. You know more about her life right now?” Jack’s voice was edging towards anger and the Doctor grimaced. “Wait. That Prince, Howl, hall, whatever. Lissi has a huge crush on him, and she said they talk every day. Could she be there?”

Relief washed through the Doctor. “Of course! Yes! I didn’t even think. When she gets back she’ll call you, bye.” He hung up the phone and breathed a sigh as he leaned on the console. He pulled the monitor around, and smiled as he pulled up Her access logs. Sure enough the coordinates for the palace had been researched mere seconds before she teleported out. “Okay then. Anadria, the palace throne room, about seven hours from the time she chose, and.” He pulled back the lever as soon as the coordinates were in.

The Doctor held on as the TARDIS jerked, trying to form an apology in his mind before hand. If there was one thing he had learned, it was that strong willed women and teenage girls had to be apologized to in such away that didn’t inflate their egos or seem to be overbearing. As soon as the landing sequence ending, he felt the TARDIS begin to wail in dismay. The lights dimmed and deep in the recesses of her corridors, the cloister bell gonged. “No.” Fear ripped through him, as he felt the sickness of the timelines leaking through the door. “NO!” He ran across the metal plating, wrenched the door wide, and stumbled into the room.

Everyone was staring at him, weeping openly, their robes the rich scarlet of mourning for the planet. Even Queen Calla was sobbing into a blood red handkerchief. Every window was covered in heavy scarlet velvet curtains. His eyes followed the line of flaming braziers up the steps to the thrones, thrones that were no longer there. A simple black altar set at the top of the steps, and a scarlet and gold shroud covered the thin body of a teenage girl. Prince Haul was kneeling, head bowed, beside the altar, clutching the sonic screwdriver that had so recently sat in a box in Felicity’s room.

“No!” The Doctor sprinted up the steps and pulled back the shroud. His stomach turned and his hearts threatened to rupture as he saw her. She had died mid regeneration, and the Queen had obviously ordered her body to be prepped for the funeral. Her adventure clothes had been replaced by an exact replica of her ball gown. “Why?!” He let his own tears fall freely, feeling the loss engulf him. He took her freezing hands in his and raised those black painted fingers to his lips. “Oh Felicity. I’m so sorry. I shouldn’t have yelled. If I hadn’t...”

“She sacrificed herself to save her mother, I think.” Haul’s voice sounded dead as he stood shakily to his feet. “The Goddess, or the Mistress, whatever she is really called. She came back, and she ambushed Lissi and I. Felicity told her the truth, Sir Doctor, and in doing so bought us enough time to alert the Shadow Proclamation before they left the planet. My mother ordered this Missy, to be killed, but Felicity jumped in the way. She started changing in this gold light, saying she was fine, but then one of the anarchists, he stabbed her in the neck.” The Prince paused as he sobbed and stroked Felicity’s cheek. “The Mistress killed him with the same dagger, then she just let herself be taken away. The Proclamation said they will contact you to carry out her execution.”

The Doctor heard the words, let his mind process them, but he stared at the prince, the way those golden eyes ringed black, never left Felicity’s face. He could feel the utter devastation so like his own washing over him, as well as guilt. “I need.” The Doctor choked on the words. “I need to take her to her family, so we can build the pyre.”   
Everything was wrong. How had he missed it, missed that Missy was the “Goddess”. He should have seen it, should have known that it wouldn’t have ended so easily at the gala. Felicity had been everything he swore he had never needed again. The thought of the TARDIS without her joyous smile and wonder-filled laughter was too much to bear.

“Doctor.” Queen Calla was suddenly beside him. “She died a hero’s death. Please, allow us to hold vigil and honor her with a pyre here. Bring her family to us, let us celebrate her passing into the dust of the universe together.” Her voice was soft, and her scarlet kerchief touched the corners of his eyes.

“Of course, Your Majesty. I’ll be back in an hour.” He gave Felicity one last look. “I loved you, my Lucky Star, like you were my own granddaughter. I never got to tell you.” The Doctor kissed her forehead before he pulled the shroud back up over her face.

Feeling every bit his age, the Doctor walked numbly back to the TARDIS. Unseeing, he flipped the controls and headed for earth. He opened the doors, staring up at Jack’s house. The back door opened, and Jack was standing there all smiles. The Doctor knew the instant he realized. If he was in agony, it was nothing compared to the wordless cry that escaped the father’s mouth as he came running across the garden. He shoved past the Doctor into the console room, and upon feeling the grief of the TARDIS he fell to his knees.

The Doctor gave up on hiding his tears as he changed the coordinates to Sarah Jane’s house. He left Jack on the floor, where the man was sobbing into his hands and stepped into the living room. Sarah Jane was seated, still sweet faced but now with grayer hair, pouring water for tea into three mugs. When she saw the Doctor’s tear stained face, the kettle clattered to the floor. He didn’t trust himself to speak, so he stepped aside to let her in. Jack staggered to his feet and held open his arms, and Sarah Jane stepped into them.

When he materialized in Mickey and Martha’s house, he interrupted dinner with Martha’s mother. There was a hurried agreement that she would babysit Rickey, and the couple was soon on board. Nobody spoke, they just cried silently, clinging to each other as the Doctor set the coordinates to return an hour later. This time they landed in the gardens.

The entire palace staff was gathered around a massive pyre. The Doctor let Felicity’s family step out first. He pulled the door closed behind him, and swallowed hard as Sarah Jane took one of his hands and Martha took the other. Together they crossed the grass in the growing twilight to where Haul was standing vigil next to the altar that had been brought outside.

“You’re Prince Haul?” Jack’s voice cracked as he stepped forward. “Were you there, at the end?”

“I was. You are her father?” Haul extended his hand and they clasped forearms. “Your daughter left my arms as she swept into them, fighting to save people.” His eyes flashed to the mismatched family behind them. “Felicity was a remarkable woman, and I will never care for another as I did for her.”

“May we see her?” Sarah Jane approached the altar, and Haul tenderly lowered the shroud. “Oh, my Lissi girl.” She began weeping hard, turning into Jack’s chest as he held her tight.

“She wanted to be a physicist.” Mickey coughed to clear his voice, as he approached her body and stroked her face. “Before she met you, Doctor. It was her dream. She wanted to become a physicist and teach.”

“Except for when she was seven, and she wanted to be a ballerina space pirate.” Martha giggled through her sobs. “Remember that?” She pressed her lips to Felicity’s cheeks. “I even made her a spacial jolly roger tutu.”

“It’s time.” Queen Calla stepped forward, just as the sun fully set. The only light was the six torches being held by the staff. “Haul.” She nodded to her son, who pulled the shroud back up over her face and began to lift her body.

“Let me.” The Doctor finally found his voice. He lifted Felicity’s slight weight from the altar and stepped to the pyre. She set her softly down onto the fuel soaked wood. “I’m so sorry. Never again. I swear.” He whispered so softly in Gallifreyan so no one else could understand. He stepped back and took one of the offered torches. As one, they all touched the flames to the wood. As the flames licked up, they tossed the torches onto the pyre.

The Doctor held still as his friends clung to him and each other, and for the first time he let them, or anyone, see him break. He didn't care. It didn’t matter anymore. He quit, he couldn’t keep being the reason people died, heroically or not. He left them all at Jack’s house, slipping out silently after he left the contents of Felicity’s TARDIS bedroom in the kitchen.

He numbly accepted the shadow proclamation’s request to take part in Missy’s execution and death vigil hours later. Yet, it wasn’t until he looked down at the two pictures he had kept, a selfie of him and Lissi working together on the console, and the one of his and the Master’s younger self, that he made his decision in full. He wouldn’t kill Missy. He would use Felicity’s death to teach her how to regret, to feel, to be good. Until then, he would teach physics, just like Lissi had wanted to do. He would never take another companion again though. He had sworn it to her. He knew he couldn’t do it, couldn’t bear the guilt of another life lost because of his actions.

For fifty years, the Doctor kept that promise. He didn’t care that people not registered for his classes sat in. He loved teaching, remembering Susan studying in the TARDIS library or Felicity curled up in the jumpseat reading aloud in shaky Gallifreyan. This was enough for him, and he had made Nardole swear to keep him to his vow. That was until that day, the day he looked out and saw confusion in a pair of eyes, but a broad wonder-filled smile.

 _Show her the stars. Teach her to run_. The voices of Susan, Rose, River, and Felicity murmured in his mind. He ignored them for weeks, but then he called her to his office and the TARDIS spoke her piece. Ripping the out of order sign from the TARDIS, he touched the controls for the first time in fifty years and allowed himself to hope.


End file.
